This animation shows the hoop stress generated from loading a spur gear. The contours inset in the top right show the load being applied to a gear in the stress-free condition, and a gear modeled with compressive residual stress in the root from heat treatment. The stress/strain plot to the left shows an example of the different initial stress levels in the root, and how the residual compression can reduce the magnitude of tension from bending during loading. Leveraging residual stress from heat treatment can improve part performance, fatigue life, and can be used in design to reduce weight in powertrain components.
Tags: Residual Stress, Spur Gear, Loading, and Heat Treatment