--The foundation for suppliers to master core processes and win customer trust
In industries such as precision machinery, industrial automation, automotive transmission, and wind power equipment, gears have always been key components of transmission systems. The manufacturing process of gears not only determines their strength, life, and transmission accuracy, but also directly affects the performance stability of terminal equipment. For gear product suppliers, understanding the complete manufacturing process not only helps to better evaluate product quality and cost control, but also provides professional support for customers in selecting and customizing solutions.
This article will focus on the typical manufacturing process of gears - forging → rough machining → heat treatment → finishing, analyze the role, control points, and process differences of each key process, and help suppliers build stronger product delivery capabilities.
1. Forging: The first step to create a strong structure
Process overview:
Gear blanks are often formed by hot die forging or free forging to obtain higher tissue density and metal fiber flow direction.
Main functions:
Improve the strength and fatigue resistance of the material;
Reduce the amount of cutting required for subsequent processing;
Provide a stable internal organizational foundation for gears.
Key points of control:
Match the mold temperature with the blank temperature to prevent cracks;
Gears with high precision requirements use die forging + finishing process to avoid large subsequent deformation.
✅ Supplier suggestion: Pay attention to the mold accuracy and heat treatment process of the forging manufacturer, which will help predict the quality and dimensional fluctuation risks of the blank.
2. Rough machining: Forming the basic contour and installation benchmark
Process content:
Turn the outer circle, turn the hole, turn the end face, etc.;
Establish accurate benchmarks for tooth processing and clamping.
Purpose:
Preliminary removal of excess to improve geometric accuracy;
Reduce the burden of subsequent finishing;
Form a controllable clamping and positioning interface.
Common equipment:
CNC lathes, machining centers.
✅ Supplier suggestion: Although the rough machining accuracy is not high, it directly affects the reliability of the benchmark of the subsequent process, and attention should be paid to its fixture system design and process stability.
3. Heat treatment: determines the "hard core" performance of gears
Process type:
Quenching and tempering treatment (quenching + tempering): strengthen the toughness of the core of the gear;
Surface quenching (high frequency/induction): enhance the wear resistance of the tooth surface;
Carburizing quenching: improve the hardness of the tooth surface and retain the toughness of the core, suitable for heavy-loaded and high-speed gears.
Purpose:
Improve wear resistance, fatigue resistance, and impact resistance;
Control the deformation of the gear and ensure the precision machining allowance.
Control focus:
Temperature uniformity;
Carburizing depth and quenching hardness curve;
Deformation control after heat treatment (need to match the finishing allowance).
✅ Supplier suggestion: It is recommended to cooperate with manufacturers with heat treatment qualifications, especially for precision gears that must undergo hardness and metallographic testing with quality traceability.
4. Finishing: The key process to achieve high-precision transmission performance
This is the key stage to determine the gear tooth profile accuracy, meshing noise, and transmission efficiency. Common tooth surface processing methods include:
1. Gear Hobbing
Use a hob to continuously cut to form an involute tooth profile;
High efficiency, suitable for large-scale processing of medium and low-precision gears.
2. Gear Shaping
Suitable for internal gear or special gear processing;
High precision and strong flexibility.
3. Gear Grinding
Use a grinding wheel to perform high-precision finishing on the heat-treated tooth surface;
Achieve DIN 4-5 or higher accuracy;
Suitable for extremely high-speed, low-noise, heavy-load applications (such as transmissions, aviation gears).
Auxiliary processes:
Secondary finishing processes such as shaving, skiving, and honing are used to reduce meshing errors and improve surface quality.
✅ Supplier recommendations: It is recommended to master the cost, accuracy, and efficiency characteristics of different tooth processing methods in order to provide customers with targeted process selection recommendations.
