Multi-component Gearwheels and their Manufacturing Processes

Gearwheels in automotive applications are usually monolithic parts. Adapting the already known concept of multi-component gearwheels to those applications, allows to reduce the car's weight. The presented multi-component gearwheels consist of three pieces: a gear ring including teeth, a shaft and a wheel body that connects shaft and gear ring. Two gearwheel concepts as well as the corresponding joining strategy of gear ring and wheel body are introduced. The first concept is about manufacturing the wheel body by stapling fine blanked sheet metal layers. Gear ring and wheel body are joined by a press fit. The second concept focuses on manufacturing the wheel body by lateral extrusion of a metal disk. Using the gear ring as the die in the forging tool allows manufacturing the wheel body as well as joining wheel body and gear ring simultaneously. The authors investigate both production processes virtually and compare the resulting gearwheels regarding load and lightweight potential.