Optimisation of gear shaving by application of simulation techniques

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 the highly increased efficiency of other gear finishing processes, especially the gear hobbing process has recently become competitive to the shaving process for soft finishing of gears. In contrast to other machining processes with geometrically defined cutting edges, the gear shaving process has almost not been improved 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 to for further optimisation. 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 analyse 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 2-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 within the two different simulation techniques is subsequently used to find different approaches to optimise the gear shaving process.