Tribological failure analysis of gear contacts of Exciter Sieve gear boxes

In the present paper the premature failure of gear contact encountered in Exciter Sieve gear boxes has been analyzed. The cause of gear contact failure is identified by simulating the load bearing capacity of lubricants and conducting controlled experiments on an Amsler disk-on-disk tribo tester. The results of performance behavior (i.e., load carrying capacity of lubricants, contact friction and weight loss of test specimens) of the simulated gear contacts have been reported. The theoretical and experimental results indicate presence of mixed to partial elastohydrodynamic lubrication conditions in the gear contact. To mitigate the problem of scuffing and scoring in the gear contacts, lubricating oils with extreme pressure additives and Base oil without additive have been tested and performance results are reported.