Residual stresses in induction-hardened gear teeth mapped by neutron diffraction

Surface-hardening treatments are used in order to enhance the resistance of mating gear teeth surfaces to wear and fatigue crack initiation. The treatments create a compressive residual stress state near the tooth surface, which acts to impede crack initiation and propagation. Accurate determination...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Korsunsky, A, James, K, Aylott, C, Shaw, B
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2002
Description
Summary:Surface-hardening treatments are used in order to enhance the resistance of mating gear teeth surfaces to wear and fatigue crack initiation. The treatments create a compressive residual stress state near the tooth surface, which acts to impede crack initiation and propagation. Accurate determination of this residual stress field is important for quantifying the effect of treatment and optimizing the processing conditions. Neutron diffraction provides a powerful non-destructive experimental tool for residual stress evaluation. By collecting residual strain data for three different orientations, the principal stress directions and values can be mapped. This paper describes the procedure used for building such maps using the G5.2 spectrometer at Laboratoire Léon Brillouin, Saclay, and presents the results obtained for an induction-hardened gear.