In the last few years, improvements in clean steel technology have been coupled with development of new ultra-high-strength, high-toughness steels. These technologies provide affordable solutions for critical, power-dense components. This paper reviews and compares steel cleanness metrics between re-melted steels and steels that meet AGMA grade 3 cleanness. The new steels provide yield strengths ranging from 175-210 KSI, ultimate tensile strengths ranging from 230-250 KSI, and Charpy impact energies ranging from 35 to 50 ft.-lbs., allowing these grades to provide longer life, more power, and/or lighter weight. The higher fatigue strength of these steels is compared to more commonly used gear steels, and an analysis is presented that illustrates a potential for either a 30% reduction in gear set mass or a 45% increase in gear set torque capacity.

ISBN: 978-1-64353-028-4
Pages: 15
Author: E. Buddy Damm