A new method for preventing premature pitting formation on spur gears

Surface pitting of gear teeth flanks is one of the most common causes of operational failure of gears. Pitting is strongly influenced by the Hertzian stress. The Hertzian surface stress is at a maximum in the single tooth contact region. Decreasing the Hertzian surface stress in this region decreases pitting. Another way to decrease the stress in this region is to modify the tooth width. The aim of this study is to delay the formation of pitting in the single tooth meshing region by means of decreasing the Hertzian surface pressure by increasing tooth width. Experiments show that pitting appearance is delayed for the width-modified gear wheels with respect to the gears having no such modifications.