Key Process Differences Affecting Service Life
- Heat Treatment: Gears treated via nitriding exhibit slightly higher surface hardness than carburized gears and may offer a longer service life under certain operating conditions.
- Shot Peening: Shot-peened gears develop higher residual compressive stress on the tooth surface; their pitting fatigue life is 1.5 times that of standard, non-peened gears.
- Vacuum Carburizing + High-Pressure Gas Quenching: This process boosts contact fatigue life by 40%, significantly extending the gear's overall service life.
Service Life Differences Among Gears of the Same Type
- Hard-faced gears (treated via carburizing and quenching) possess far superior wear resistance compared to soft-faced gears; under standard operating conditions, their service life is more than double that of soft-faced gears.
- Metal gears can withstand millions of load cycles before fatigue failure occurs and significantly outperform nylon or polyoxymethylene (POM) plastic gears in dry-friction conditions; plastic gears suffer a 30% drop in strength at temperatures above 80°C, making them highly prone to failure.
