Gear shaving - process simulation helps to comprehend an incomprehensible process

Due to its high economical efficiency, the gear shaving process is a widely used process for soft finishing of gears in the gear manufacturing industry. However, because of highly increased efficiency, other gear finishing processes, especially gear hobbing, have recently become competitive with the shaving process for soft finishing of gears. In contrast to other machining processes with geometrically defined cutting edges, the gear shaving process has been improved little during the past 30 years. So far, it is not known if the machining parameters in gear shaving represent an optimum as they are or if there is a potential for further optimization. Therefore, in this report, different approaches to increase the tool life and the productivity are discussed, using different simulation techniques. At first, a geometrical simulation tool based on penetration calculation is used in order to analyze the geometrical and kinematical conditions of the gear shaving process. The information gained by this type of analysis is used to create another simulation model which is based on FEA. This two-dimensional model allows the determination of physical values like stresses, forces, temperatures and others. Also, with this type of simulation, it is possible to determine the effect of tool wear on the chip creation process. The information gained with the two different simulation techniques is subsequently used to find different approaches to optimize the gear shaving process