More cost-efficient production of prototype gears with laser hardening

Within the automotive sector, new gear prototypes must be produced continuously, for which conventional production methods are not efficient. A possible alternative is selective laser hardening, integrated on a production centre that also performs other operations on the gears. The possibilities were investigated on three different types of gears.

Within the automotive industry, newly prototyped automotive drivetrain gears are continuously designed to satisfy the need to handle higher loads combined with weight and size reduction. The conventional process chain for the manufacturing of prototype gears is very time and energy consuming. Prototype gears are machined in a soft state followed by a hardening process and if still required, a finishing step. However, these classical production technologies proven to be efficient for large batch sizes, but not for prototyping. The development and validation of a more sustainable process chain for the efficient production of prototype gears became imperative.