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Robert Errichello
SMART Technologies
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(a)
(b)
Figure 2 Bending
18.5C--27.5K
fatigue fracture
surfaces of gear
teeth. Upper 56C--11.5M--43K
tooth
has multiple origins
20Y--20K
of failure.
50Y--50K
POWER TRANSMISSION DESIGN MARCH 1994 35
Failure inspection
Before starting the inspection, review
the background information and service
history with the contact person. Then interview those involved in the design, installation, operation,
maintenance, and failure
of the gearbox. Encourage
them to tell everything
they know about the gearbox even if they feel it is
not important.
After completing the interviews, explain your objectives to the technician
who will be working with
you. Review the gearbox
assembly drawings with
the technician, checking
for potential disassembly
problems.
Visual examination.
Before disassembling the gearbox, thoroughly inspect its exterior. Use an inspection form as a guide to ensure that you
record important data that would other-
General mode
Bending fatigue
Low-cycle fatigue
Specific mode
High-cycle fatigue
Root fillet cracks
one or both gears with maan effective lubricant analysis
Profile cracks
chinists layout lacquer. Run
depends on how well the samTooth end cracks
the gears under load for a sufple represents the operating
ficient time to wear off the
Contact fatigue
Macropitting
Nonprogressive
lubricant. To take samples
lacquer and establish the
Progressive
from a gearbox drain valve,
contact patterns. Photograph
Spall
first discard stagnant oil from
the patterns to obtain a perFlake
the valve. Then take a sample
manent record.
Micropitting
at the start, middle, and end of
Document observations.
Subcase fatigue
a drain to avoid stratification.
Describe all important obserTo sample from the reservoir,
vations in writing, using
Wear
Adhesion
Mild
draw samples from the top,
sketches and photographs
Moderate
middle, and near the bottom.
where needed. Identify and
Abrasion
Mild
Examine the oil filter and magmark each component (inModerate
netic plug for wear debris and
cluding gear teeth and bearSevere
contaminants.
ing rollers), so it is clearly
Corrosion
Samples from the oil storage
identified in the written deFretting corrosion
drum or reservoir can uncover
scription, sketches, and phoPolishing
Mild
problems such as excessive watographs. It is especially imModerate
ter in the oil due to improper
portant to mark all bearings,
Severe
storage.
including inboard and outElectric discharge
Have you got it all? Before
board sides, so their location
Cavitation
leaving the site, make sure
and position in the gearbox
Erosion
that you have everything
can be determined later.
needed completed inspecScuffing
Scuffing
Mild
Describe components in a
tion forms, written descripModerate
consistent way. For example,
tions and sketches, photos,
Severe
always start with the same
and test specimens for compart of a bearing and progress
pleting the failure analysis.
Overload
Brittle fracture
through the parts in the same
Ductile fracture
sequence. This helps to avoid
Determine
Mixed-mode fracture
overlooking any evidence.
type of failure
Plastic deformation
Cold flow
Concentrate on collecting
Hot flow
evidence, not on determining
Indentation
Now its time to examine all
the cause of failure. RegardRolling
of the information and deterless of how obvious the cause
Rippling
mine how the gear (or gears)
may appear, do not form conRidging
failed.
clusions until all the evidence
Root fillet yielding
Several failure modes may
is considered.
Tip-root interference
be present and you need to
Gear geometry. The load
identify which is the primary
capacity of the gearset will
Cracking
Hardening cracks
mode, and which are secneed to be calculated later.
Grinding cracks
ondary modes that may have
For this purpose, obtain the
Rim and web cracks
contributed to failure. Table 1
following geometry data, eiCase-core separation
lists six general classes of gear
ther from the gears and gear
failure modes, of which the
housing or their drawings:
first four are the most com Number of teeth.
ing the inspection, you will begin to for- mon. An understanding of these four
Outside diameter.
mulate hypotheses regarding the cause of common modes will enable you to iden Face width.
Gear housing center distance for failure. With these hypotheses in mind, tify the cause of failure.
each gearset.
select specimens for laboratory testing.
1. Bending fatigue. This common type
Take broken parts for laboratory evalua- of failure is a slow, progressive failure
Whole depth of teeth.
Tooth thickness (both span and top tion or, if this is not possible, ensure that caused by repeated loading. It occurs in
land measurement).
they will be preserved for later analysis.
three stages:
Specimens for laboratory tests. DurOil samples can be very helpful. But,
Crack initiation. Plastic deformation
In one type, called spalling, the pits coalesce and form irregular craters over a
large area.
In flake macropitting, thin flakes of
material break out and form triangular
pits that are relatively shallow, but large
in area.
Micropitting has a frosted, matte, or
gray stained appearance. Under magnification, the surface is shown to be covered
by very fine pits (less than 20 mm deep).
Metallurgical sections through these pits
show fatigue cracks that may extend
deeper than the pits.
3. Wear. Gear tooth surface wear involves removal or displacement of material due to mechanical, chemical, or electrical action. The three major types of
wear are adhesion, abrasion, and polishing.
Adhesion is the transfer of material
from the surface of one tooth to that of
another due to welding and tearing, Figure 5. It is confined to oxide layers on the
tooth surface. Adhesion is categorized as mild or moderate,
whereas severe adhesion is
termed scuffing (described
later).
Typically, mild adhesion occurs during
gearset run-in and
subsides after it
wears local imperfections from the surface.
To the unaided
Figure 6
Excessive
abrasion
type wear.
Photo: ANSI/AGMA Standard 110.04
Tests and
calculations aid analysis
In many cases, failed parts and inspection data dont yield enough information
to determine the cause of failure. When
this happens, gear design calculations
and laboratory tests are usually needed
to develop and confirm a hypothesis for
the probable cause.
Gear design calculations. The gear
geometry data collected earlier aids in
estimating tooth contact stress, bending
stress, lubricant film thickness, and gear
tooth contact temperature based on
transmitted loads for each gear. These
values are calculated according to American Gear Manufacturers
Association
standards
such
as
ANSI/AGMA
2001-B88 for
spur
and
helical gears.
Comparing
these calculated values
with AGMA allowable values helps to determine the risk of macropitting, bending
fatigue, and scuffing.
Laboratory examination and tests. A
microscopic examination may confirm
the failure mode or find the origin of a fatigue crack. Both light microscopes and
scanning electron microscopes (SEM)
are useful for this purpose. An SEM with
an energy dispersive X-ray is especially
useful for identifying corrosion, contamination, or inclusions.
If the primary failure mode is likely to
be influenced by gear geometry, check
for any geometric or metallurgical defects that may have contributed to the
failure. For example, if tooth contact patterns indicate misalignment or interference, inspect the gear for accuracy on
gear inspection machines. Conversely,
where contact patterns indicate good
alignment and the calculated loads are
within rated gear capacity, check the
teeth for metallurgical defects.
Conduct nondestructive tests before
any destructive tests. These nondestructive tests, which aid in detecting material
or manufacturing defects and provide
rating information, include:
Surface hardness and roughness.
Magnetic particle inspection.
Acid etch inspection.
Gear tooth accuracy inspection.
Then conduct destructive tests to evaluate material and heat treatment. These
tests include:
Microhardness survey.
Microstructural determination using various acid etches.
Determi-
Figure 8
Scuffing of
gear tooth
surfaces.
Reporting results
A failure analysis report should describe all relevant facts found during the
analysis, the inspections and tests,
weighing of evidence, conclusions, and
recommendations. Present the data suc-