Gear Tooth Surface Failure Analysis and Prevention
Detailed analysis of common gear tooth surface failure modes (pitting, wear, scuffing, tooth breakage), covering their causes, characteristics, and pr
Common Failure Modes#
1. Tooth Surface Pitting#
Under cyclic contact stress, metal on the tooth surface spalls off, forming pits.
- Cause: Contact stress exceeds the material fatigue limit; insufficient lubrication
- Characteristics: Small pits appear on the tooth surface and gradually expand into large-area spalling
- Prevention: Increase tooth surface hardness (HRC 58 or above); use lubricating oil with extreme pressure additives
2. Tooth Surface Wear#
- Cause: Poor lubrication; external hard particles enter the meshing zone
- Characteristics: Tooth thickness decreases, tooth profile changes, and transmission noise increases
- Prevention: Improve lubricant filtration; tooth surface hardening treatment
3. Scuffing#
- Cause: High speed and heavy load cause excessively high tooth surface temperature; lubricating film rupture
- Characteristics: Tear-like marks appear on the tooth surface
- Prevention: Use extreme pressure lubricating oil; phosphating/sulfiding treatment of the tooth surface
4. Tooth Breakage#
- Cause: Overload impact; stress concentration at the tooth root
- Characteristics: Cracks appear at the tooth root and progress to complete fracture
- Prevention: Tooth root fillet optimization; tooth root shot peening strengthening
Geyang Transmission performs 100% tooth surface inspection on every batch of gears before shipment.