Evaluation of Important Factors Affecting Quench Distortion of Carburized Hypoid Gear with Shaft by Using Computer Simulation Methods

To minimize quenching distortion and dispersion, carburizing and quenching process conditions must be optimized; this includes the parts racking design used for quenching. We investigated some factors affecting carburized quenching distortion with an experiment using a hypoid gear having a shaft and with numerical simulation methods. The experimental results and those obtained from simulation were generally in agreement. Focusing on the surface temperature distribution in the gear, we studied quenching distortion characteristics in terms of changes in tooth profile and helix deviation. In our experiments, distortions occur during quenching in 373 K oil after austenitized temperature treatments conducted with various attitudes. We calculated the distortions by simulating the carburized oil-quenching process for the hypoid gear. Our results show large differences between the cooling rates of the tooth toe, middle section, and heel edges, and these greatly influence the change in tooth profile and helix deviation. We found that reducing the differences in temperatures on the gear surfaces during quenching is most important for minimizing the quench distortion of the hypoid gear.