Distortion of Gears as Consequence of Lightweight Construction – Influence of Teeth*

Abstract

Abstract On the basis of economic and ecological constraints a reduced weight and/or minimized volume of automobile components is more and more focused in industrial and scientific activities in recent years. Apart from the application of new materials with considerably lower density a change of component design can be used to succeed in aims regarding lightweight construction. But aspects of a production-oriented design, especially for heat treated drive train components, have to be considered, too. This topic applies in particular to the final heat treatment because serious distortion problems can arise due to reduced stiffness and asymmetric mass distribution of a component. In the previous research work, the distortion behavior of gear base bodies as essential part of a gear was analyzed and a first design guideline for gear base bodies resulting in tolerable distortion was developed. In the ongoing research work, the basic approaches used for the determination of this guideline for gear base bodies will be applied to a complex gear with strong asymmetric mass distribution. One of the first questions of this work concerns the influence of the teeth on base body distortion. In this paper results of comparitive experiments between a complexed shaped gear with and without teeth will be presented.