Surface Engineering Technologies for Improved Gear Efficiency

The overall goal of this project is to develop an optimized surface texture process in order to maximize the efficiency of rolling/sliding contacts such as gears. Development of this high efficiency, rolling/sliding surface will be guided by Sentient's unique combination of modeling capabilities in the area of mixed-EHL contacts, scuffing, and contact fatigue life prediction. Phase I will focus on demonstrating the feasibility of the approach. This will be accomplished by developing the required modeling technologies and demonstrating them for a simple representative geometry. Additionally, simple coupon-level experimental verification of frictional performance gains from each of the proposed technologies will be performed. Phase I will prove that the proposed surface modification approaches are fundamentally sound before the technology is further developed to include more complex gear geometries.