Detection and Diagnosis of Gear Tooth Wear through Metallurgical and Oil Analysis

Abstract

Gear teeth wear, in most cases, by a smooth process giving initially good contact conditions, followed by a very slow and gradual process. Further, continuous progression of tooth wear may cause unfavorable changes of surface topography, thereby, giving rise to worsened contact situations. The metal removed from the worn teeth surfaces enter into the machine system and can, in turn, cause failure of other components, finally resulting in a severe form of tooth failure. The causes and subsequent prevention of the damage due to wear can be studied by oil/wear particle analysis of lubricants under operating conditions. This paper describes the results of experimental studies performed for evaluation of lubricant film thickness, wear particle analysis based on their morphology, metal composition analysis of lubricants using X-ray fluorescence, atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and Energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). These results have been correlated with wear.

Keywords

• gear
• lubricant film thickness
• wear particle
• back-to-back gear box