Investigation on Precision Finishing of Helical Gears Using Newly Developed Silicon Carbide Mixed Styrene Butadiene Media and Abrasive Flow Finishing Process

Abstract

\n\nThe good surface finish of gears is one of the critical parameters which leads to its noise-free operation, efficient power transmission, and longer service life. However, most of the gear manufacturing processes do not produce a good surface finish. Therefore, gears need post-processing to finish their surface. Out of several methods of gear finishing like gear grinding, lapping, and honing, the abrasive flow finishing process offers more flexibility due to its self-deformable\n\nabrasive medium which can easily flow across complex internal or external geometry. The present study aims to improve the surface finish of helical gear by abrasive flow finishing (AFF) by experimentally identifying the optimum range of the potential input process parameters. An AFF set up was used for gear finishing by using a medium of styrene-butadiene and soft silicone polymer, Silicon carbide abrasive, and silicone oil as a blending agent. A special fixture was developed comprising of five parts namely spider, mandrel, upper, middle, and bottom cylinder with a circumferential hole, which allows the back and forth movement of AFF medium through the annular volume between fixture and gear. Further, an experimental investigation of process parameters like viscosity, effect of percentage of various components in medium, operating pressure, and helix angle of helical gears have been studied on percentage improvement of surface roughness (Ra) value of the gear. It is found that the concentration of abrasives in media and extrusion pressure were the two most significant parameters that have a maximum effect on the percentage reduction in surface roughness and finishing rate. Results show that the optimum combination of the extrusion pressure and abrasive weight percentage is 38 bar and 40 % that produces best results of around 76 and 69 % improvement in Ra for gear of helix angle 30 degree and 45 degree respectively.\n