The development and production of thermo-mechanically forged tool steel spur gears
A development program to establish the feasibility and applicability of high energy rate forging procedures to tool steel spur gears was performed. Included in the study were relatively standard forging procedures as well as a thermo-mechanical process termed ausforming. The subject gear configuration utilized was essentially a standard spur gear having 28 teeth, a pitch diameter of 3.5 inches and a diametral pitch of 8. Initially it had been planned to use a high contact ratio gear design, however, a comprehensive evaluation indicated that severe forging problems would be encountered as a result of the extremely small teeth required by this type of design. The forging studies were successful in achieving gear blanks having integrally formed teeth using both standard and thermo-mechanical forging procedures.