Residual stress relaxation by bending fatigue in induction-hardened gear studied by neutron Bragg edge transmission imaging and X-ray diffraction

Su, Y. H.  ; Oikawa, Kenichi   ; Shinohara, Takenao   ; Kai, Tetsuya   ; Horino, Takashi*; Idohara, Osamu*; Misaka, Yoshitaka*; Tomota, Yo*

A novel procedure, double induction quenching (DIQ), effective for improving the fatigue strength of gear products, has been used for producing gears with steep gradients of compressive residual stress generated in the tooth surface. We performed a Bragg edge imaging experiment at a pulsed neutron source to determine the spatial distribution of the {110} lattice spacing (d) and the broadening of the {110} Bragg edge (w) on the DIQ gear product after tooth-bending fatigue tests to which different loading cycles were applied. No significant difference occurred in the d and the wat Hofer 's critical section of the teeth with different loading conditions within the accuracy of data analysis. However, we detected a decrease in the w and changes in the residual lattice strain distribution in the axial direction along the tooth root directions at the opposite side of Hofer 's critical section for both teeth after 310 and 810 cycles, relieving the compressive residual stresses during the fatigue process. The residual stress close to the gear tooth surface determined by X-ray diffraction using sequential polishing showed a slight relaxation and redistribution from the tensile side in the hoop direction, complementary to the neutron Bragg edge imaging.