Powder metallurgy (PM) is usually used in manufacturing parts with complex geometries, such as gears and structural parts. The main attractions of PM are the high rate of material utilization, environmental friendliness of production, economic advantages (especially for complex geometries), and possibility of obtaining lighter components. To find a wide range of applications and compete with regular steel gears, PM gear transmissions should have good transmission efficiency and wear properties. Furthermore, they should have low contact noise and adequate surface fatigue properties. Because of the porosity structure of PM gears both on gear flanks and in the body, the friction and wear properties of PM gear flank contacts differ somewhat from those of regular steel gears.    This doctoral thesis examines the efficiency and wear properties of PM gears. Paper A compares the wear, friction, and damage mechanism properties of two sintered gear materials with those of a standard gear material. Paper B deals with the gear mesh torque loss mechanism of PM and regular steel gears by combining both pin-on-disc frictional and FZG efficiency tests. Paper C comparatively examines the efficiency of PM and regular steel gears by conducting FZG gear efficiency tests. Paper D focuses on the wear and friction properties of PM and regular steel gear materials treated using the triboconditioning process. Paper E studies the friction and wear properties attributable to different pore sizes in PM gear materials.    The results indicate that regular steel meshed with PM gear material and PM meshed with PM gear material are good candidate combinations for gear transmissions. This is because the porosities of PM material can lower the friction coefficient while the wear rate can be the same as or even better than that of regular steel contacts. The triboconditioning process enhances the wear resistance and reduces the friction coefficient of the PM gear material. The friction and wear coefficients of PM meshed with PM gear material display increasing trends with increasing pore size. The friction and wear coefficients of regular steel meshed with PM gear material display decreasing trends with increasing pore size. / <p>QC 20160523</p>

Gearboxes are always subject of study in order to increase their efficiency. Energy losses in gear contacts are transformed into heat which is distributed among the gearbox components increasing their temperature. A thermal model of the gearbox brings the opportunity of a deeper understanding of the heat dissipated related to the power losses in the gear contact. A MATLAB program based on ordinary differential equations was developed in order to make a thermal model of an FZG test gearbox. The model is based on a thermal network where each node represents a machine element. The thermal network is composed by thermal resistances due to deformation in the gear contact, conduction, convection and radiation. With thermal resistances, power losses and thermal inertia of each element, the temperature evolution was obtained by applying the First Principle of Thermodynamics. Due to the temperature evolution, heat transfer between different elements was estimated. Additionally, experimental results from an FZG test rig were implemented in the model and also used to verify its accuracy. Furthermore, additional features to the model such as a cooling system and spray lubrication were also studied. Results show a wide capability and handling of the program in terms of thermal analysis: heat flux direction and magnitude, visual tools such as thermal network of the test gearbox, as well as the analysis of different operating conditions. With these tools, an approach to the minimum amount of lubricant necessary and other ways to quench overheating could then be reached. Keywords: Thermal network, FZG gear test rig, heat flow, temperature, MATLAB, ODE. / Växellådor är ständigt ett forskningsområde för att förbättra deras verkningsgrad. Energiförluster i kuggkontakter omvandlas till värme som sprids i växellådan som sedan värmer upp komponenterna. En termisk modell av växellådan gör det möjligt för djupare förståelse hur värmen sprids i förhållande till energiförlusterna i kuggkontakten. Ett MATLAB-program baserat på ordinära differential-ekvationer utvecklades för att göra en termisk modell av en växellåda i en kuggrigg från FZG. Modellen är baserad på ett termiskt nätverk där varje nod representerar en maskinkomponent. Det termiska nätverket består av resistanser som uppstår på grund av deformation i kuggkontakten, ledning, konvektion och strålning. Med termiska resistanser, energiförluster, termisk tröghet från komponenterna och genom att applicera termodynamikens första grundsats kunde temperatur-genereringen bestämmas. Från temperatur-genereringen kunde värme-ledningen mellan komponenter uppskattas. Testresultat från en FZG-kuggrigg användes för att verifiera modellens noggrannhet. Andra egenskaper till modellen, som ett annat kylsystem och spraysmörjning studerades för att undersöka möjligheteten att adderas till modellen. Resultat visar på en bred användning av modellen i avseende på termisk analys: värmeflödets storlek och riktning, ett visuellt redskap för växellådans temperatur och hur växellådans temperatur varierar under olika driftförhållanden. Med de här redskapen kan den minsta oljemängden som behövs för att smörja kuggkontakten undersökas och hur kylning av kugghjulen kan förbättras. Nyckelord: Termiskt nätverk, FZG kugghjuls-rigg, värmeflöde, temperatur, MATLAB, ODE