Due to the complexity of spiral bevel gear machining, the cutting tools can be a significant cost of gear manufacturing. Unlike the price of material which is fixed by the market, the cost of tooling and subsequent re-grinding can be reduced through reducing tool wear and increasing tool life. This paper discusses an alternative approach to physical testing for predicting and reducing tool wear using the finite element method. This virtual design approach utilizes real-world cutting tool geometry, automatically generated gear blanks, and known process kinematics to simulate the cutting process. Additionally, lessons learned, potential benefits and pitfalls of this approach to tool wear reduction and future work will be discussed.

ISBN: 978-1-64353-021-5
Pages: 13
Authors: Fang Hou, Yantao Zhang, Syed Wasif, Pete Mattson, and Kerry Marusich