Superfinishing Rear Axle Gears: A Significant Step Toward Reducing Automotive Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Abstract

New regulations make it imperative that the European and US automotive industries meet strict, lower greenhouse gas emission standards. It is well documented that isotropic superfinishing automotive rear axle gears can play a significant role in reducing these emissions. Rear axle gears have been commercially isotropic superfinished using conventional vibratory finishing for many years, but this process has often been viewed as being too expensive and cumbersome for large-scale automotive production. After five years of development and testing, the drag finishing process has been perfected to a point that rear axle gears can be isotropic superfinished economically in a matter of minutes. The gears are rapidly mounted and dismounted to the machine via magnetic fixturing making this equipment amenable to full robotic operation. This paper will give details on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by isotropic superfinishing, the drag finishing machine, the magnetic fixture of the rear axle gears, the achievable surface finish, and the superfinishing cycle time.