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Procedia
Procedia Engineering
Engineering 00
00 (2017)
(2017) 000–000
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Procedia Engineering 207 (2017) 609–614

International Conference on the Technology of Plasticity, ICTP 2017, 17-22 September 2017,
Cambridge, United Kingdom

Numerical simulation and experimental investigation on the gear

rolling process
Guangchun Wang**, Jin Li, Tao Wu
School
School of
of Materials
Materials Science
Science and
and Engineering,
Engineering, Shandong
Shandong University,
University, Jinan
Jinan 250061,
250061, China
China

Abstract
Abstract

Besides
Besides having
having advantages
advantages including
including highhigh utilization
utilization rate,
rate, high
high productivity
productivity and
and superior
superior mechanical
mechanical properties,
properties, gear
gear rolling
rolling also
also
overcomes
overcomes many
many problems
problems ofof closed
closed die
die forging
forging such
such asas bad
bad mold
mold working
working conditions
conditions and and difficult
difficult ejecting
ejecting from
from the
the die
die due
due to
to
heavy
heavy loads.
loads. In
In gear
gear rolling
rolling process,
process, thethe main
main problems
problems to to solve
solve are
are tooth
tooth graduation
graduation non-uniformity
non-uniformity in in the
the initial
initial forming
forming phase
phase
and
and formation
formation of of rabbit
rabbit ears
ears in
in later
later forming
forming stage.
stage. In
In this
this paper,
paper, according
according toto the
the requirements
requirements of of tooth
tooth graduation
graduation correctness
correctness
and
and uniformity,
uniformity, several
several methods
methods to to determine
determine thethe initial
initial blank
blank diameter
diameter were
were proposed
proposed and and compared
compared to to each
each other.
other. The
The main
main
factors
factors affecting
affecting thethe slippage
slippage isis obtained
obtained through
through thethe applied
applied forces
forces on
on the
the blank,
blank, thethe tooth
tooth graduation
graduation process
process isis simulated,
simulated, andand
the
the influence
influence laws
laws of of the
the main
main factors
factors onon the
the slippage
slippage are
are acquired
acquired in
in the
the initial
initial forming
forming phase
phase of
of gear
gear rolling.
rolling. The
The forming
forming stage
stage
of
of gear
gear rolling
rolling process
process waswas simulated,
simulated, thethe forming
forming mechanism
mechanism of of rabbit
rabbit ears
ears was
was analyzed
analyzed based
based onon deformation
deformation distribution,
distribution,
material
material flow
flow and
and friction
friction force
force state
state during
during tooth
tooth forming.
forming. TheThe slippage
slippage phenomenon
phenomenon and and morphology
morphology of of rabbit
rabbit ears
ears in
in the
the tooth
tooth
forming
forming stage
stage were
were experimentally
experimentally studied
studied respectively
respectively with
with aa set
set of
of cylindrical
cylindrical gear
gear rolling
rolling device.
device. The
The experimental
experimental results
results
accorded
accorded with
with that
that ofof simulations
simulations well.
well.
©
© 2017 The Authors. Published
2017 The Authors. Published by by Elsevier
Elsevier Ltd.
Ltd.
© 2017 The under
Peer-review Authors. Published by
responsibility of Elsevier
the Ltd.
scientific committee of the International Conference on the Technology
Peer-review under responsibility of
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on the Technology of Plasticity.
of Plasticity..
Keywords:
Keywords: gear
gear rolling;
rolling; slippage;
slippage; tooth
tooth graduation;
graduation; rabbit
rabbit ears;
ears; forming
forming mechanism.
mechanism.

1.
1. Introduction
Introduction

Gear
Gear rolling
rolling have
have many
many advantages
advantages such
such as
as high
high material
material utilization
utilization rate,
rate, high
high productivity
productivity and
and better
better mechanical
mechanical
properties
properties as well as gears forging , and can overcome problems of gear forging, such as, the tooth
as well as gears forging , and can overcome problems of gear forging, such as, the tooth dimension
dimension
precision
precision decreased,
decreased, the
the unmolding
unmolding difficult
difficult due
due to
to large
large elastic
elastic deformation,
deformation, and and the
the work
work condition
condition poor
poor due
due to
to
larger
larger loads. The forming principle of gear rolling is show in Fig. 1, where a pair (or more) of gear rollers with the
loads. The forming principle of gear rolling is show in Fig. 1, where a pair (or more) of gear rollers with the
same
same parameters
parameters are
are installed
installed in
in parallel
parallel in
in their
their respective
respective axes.
axes. They
They rotate
rotate synchronously
synchronously inin the
the same
same direction,
direction,
** Corresponding
Corresponding author.
author. Tel.:
Tel.: +86-531-81696566;
+86-531-81696566; fax:
fax: +86-531-88392811.
+86-531-88392811.
E-mail
E-mail address:
address: wgc@sdu.edu.cn
wgc@sdu.edu.cn
1877-7058
1877-7058 ©© 2017
2017 The
The Authors.
Authors. Published
Published by
by Elsevier
Elsevier Ltd.
Ltd.
Peer-review under
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee
responsibility of of the International Conference on the Technology of
Plasticity..

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on the Technology of Plasticity.
10.1016/j.proeng.2017.10.1029
610 Guangchun Wang et al. / Procedia Engineering 207 (2017) 609–614
2 Guangchun Wang/ Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000

contact and extrude the outer part of the blank with a feed along the radial axis, to form the tooth shape through the
generating motion with the gear roller, which is similar to that in gear cutting.
Gear rolling was first reported in the 1950’s in Germany[1]. In the 1970’s, precious cold rolling technology
developed rapidly in Japan. In recent years, with the development of numerical calculation, finite element method
and plastic forming theory, domestic and abroad scholars are paying more attention to rolling technology. A.A.
Kamouneh investigated the flat rolling process of external helical gears and helical-involute gears[2,3]. R.
Neugebauer proposed a various pitch method for gear rolling and established simulation models for flat and round
rolling[4,5]. I. Kadashevich investigated the thermal distribution and geometric deviations in gear rolling[6]. K.
Alireza provided a method using finite element simulation as a tool to evaluate gear quality after gear rolling[7]. A.
Saleem designed a rolling rack with a changeable pitch and analyzed the distribution of strain and stress in the
forming process with simulations[8]. K. Owada explained the technical characteristics, classification, key
technology in mold manufacturing and the main factors affecting gear rolling precision. Based on massive data, the
crucial influence of tooth manufacturing of rolling molds on the tooth precision of the gear roller was pointed out[9].
E. Nagata et al. proposed a patent of a forming method for involute gears[10]. A method to eliminate the defect of
rabbit ears is put forward in reference[11]. J. Yu and B. Wang presented a method which formed the shaft and the
teeth at the same time[12].
At present, there are two main problems in gear rolling process: tooth graduation issues in the initial phase of the
rolling and defect of rabbit ears in the forming stage. Aimed at the problems mentioned above, the slippage and the
phenomenon of rabbit ears were analyzed and studied with numerical simulation as well as experiments.

2. Teeth graduation uniformity in the initial phase of gear rolling

2.1 The method to determine the blank size

The initial blanks of gear rolling can be determined by the principle of volume invariable in plastic forming
process. In the former spline cold striking process, the blank diameter was generally determined according to the
reference circle of the gear formed. If there is no slippage in the initial phase of gear rolling, the uniform tooth
graduation should be conducted according to the principle of chord equality, i.e., the outer circle of the blank is
rolled by the teeth of the gear roller, tooth graduation is based on the length of the chord AB, as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 1. Schematic` diagram of gear rolling. Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of rabbit ear. Fig. 3. Tooth graduation in gear rolling.

As shown in Fig. 3, the chord length of the blank tooth equals that of the gear roller tooth. The initial diameter of
the blank can be calculated by d0  (sin2 / sin1)d1 . Assume the tooth number of the gear to be formed is 31, the
modulus is 1 and the pressure angle is 20°, the tooth number of the gear roller is 51. The initial blank diameters
calculated respectively according to three methods above mentioned are shown in Table 1.The abundance of blank
diameter per volume determined according to chord equality principle is 9.14%, which reserves the cutting
allowance for the rabbit ear defect.

Table 1 Blank diameters and abundance per volume determined according to various methods
Volume equality principle Reference circle diameter Chord equality principle
Blank diameter/mm 30.84 31 32.22
Abundance per volume 0 1.04% 9.14%
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Guangchun Wang/ Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000 3

2.2 Slippage in the initial phase of gear rolling

In this paper, the main factors affecting slippage is obtained by the applied forces analysis on the blank in the
initial forming phase of gear rolling, the main factors is, the bite depth of one tooth, the contact friction and the
number of teeth on the gear roller. The basic parameters and environmental variables of the model are shown in
Table 2 and the finite element simulation model of gear rolling is shown in Fig.4(a), and the tooth graduation process
in the initial stage of gear rolling was simulated. To improve simulation efficiency, the axis symmetry plane of the
blank was set to a symmetry constraint; the blank rotated around a rigid shaft without friction in the rolling process.
In the initial phase of gear rolling, the main deformation area of the blank is the annular region of the blank’s outer
ring, which were refined with a higher mesh density ratio.

Table 2 Basic parameters of gear rolling in FEA model

Number of teeth on Number of teeth Pressure Friction Blank Blank thickness Forming
the gear to be formed on the gear roller angle(°) factor material (mm) temperature (°C)

31 51 20 0.7 AL_1100 2 20

The influences that the three main factors including the bite depth of one tooth, friction factor and the number of
teeth of the roller have on slippage during the initial state of gear rolling was investigated by simulation. The
simulation schemes are shown in Table 3. To obtain the blank’s actual rotating angle along with the gear roller in the
simulation, the point tracking method was used. The simulation results are shown in Fig. 5.

Fig.4. Finite element model. (a) Finite element model in the initial phase of gear rolling. (b) Finite element model of gear rolling.

Table 3 Gear rolling slippage simulation schemes

Simulation scheme Initial bite depth(mm) Friction factor Number of teeth on the gear roller

1 0.15/0.20/0.25/0.30 0.7 51
2 0.15 0.6/0.7/0.8/0.9 51
3 0.15 0.7 37/51/75/95

As shown in Fig.5, the total slippage decreases with the increase of the bite depth of one tooth, or with the
increase in friction factor, and or with the increase in the number of teeth on the gear roller.
By analyzing the factors that affect tooth graduation uniformity, it can be known that in order to conduct a proper
tooth graduation, it is necessary to choose the initial blank diameter and match the factors that affect slippage
appropriately, such as increasing the tooth number of the gear roller, increasing the contact friction between the
blank and the gear roller and increasing the axial feed value of the gear roller to keep the slippage value in the
allowed range.

3. The formation mechanism of rabbit ears

In order to eliminate the influence of slippage on teeth forming as well as improve the simulation efficiency, the
simulation model shown in Fig.4(b) was adopted during the teeth forming process. The blank was fixed, the two gear
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4 Guangchun Wang/ Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000

rollers rotated and revolved around the blank’s center while feeding along the radial direction. As shown in Fig.6, it
can be seen that along with the increase of the feed, the tooth forms gradually, the protrusions on both side of the
tooth top appear and the one on the right side is more obvious. As shown in Fig.6(e), in the later stage of the gear
rolling process, the two ears on both sides of the tooth top are squeezed to gather towards the center and fold defect
appears between the two ears. Fig.7 shows the equivalent strain diagram of the blank in the middle stage of the
rolling process. It may be seen that the strains are relatively larger on the surface of the teeth sides and on the teeth
roots, where the deformation of the metal material is larger, while no deformation occurs in the inner region of the
blank, which is related to the generating motion relation between the gear roller and the blank. Fig.8 shows the
continuous velocity vector diagram of the blank while the gear roller feeds 0.75mm. The gear roller first extrudes the
tooth root. The metal nearby is squeezed and flows towards the space between two teeth of the gear roller, as shown
in Fig.8(a). The gear roller continues to roll, the tooth to be formed is squeezed by two teeth of the gear roller. So
more metal on the surface of the tooth side flows to the flank to the tooth top based on the principle of the smallest
resistance, and protrudes to form the rabbit ear, as shown in Fig. 8(b). As the gear roller continues to roll the blank,
the lower tooth of the gear roller gradually slides out, and the upper tooth gradually slides in. When the squeezing
pressure exerted on the upper side of the formed tooth becomes greater than the lower side, the metal on the upper
side of the formed tooth is pressed to flow towards the lower-right direction, which causes the concave of the tooth
top to be center right, as shown in Fig.8(c). As the gear roller continues to roll the blank, the previous tooth of the
gear roller gradually slides out of the last tooth root and continues to drive the metal on the surface of the lower side
of the tooth to flow towards tooth top. Thus, the ear on the right side of the tooth top is pulled up and turns sharp, as
shown in Fig. 8(d).

Fig. 5. Changes in slippage with variations of main factors. (a) Initial bite depth. (b) Friction factor. (c) Number of teeth on the gear roller.

Fig.6. The changes of the rabbit ear’s morphology in different feed. (a) 0.30mm; (b) 0.60mm; (c) 0.90mm; (d) 1.10mm; (e) folding defect on the
tooth.

Fig.7. Equivalent strain distribution in gear rolling. Fig.8. Velocity vector diagram.(a)Initial phase.(b)Middle phase.(c)Later phase.(d)Finish.
 Guangchun Wang et al. / Procedia Engineering 207 (2017) 609–614 613
Guangchun Wang/ Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000 5

In the gear rolling process, the gear roller rotates counterclockwise to drive the blank to rotate. As shown in Fig.
9(a), when tooth A contacts tooth C, a normal force N is applied to the tooth root of tooth C, a normal force NAC and
a frictional force fAC are applied on tooth C. With the continual rotation of the gear roller, tooth B contacts tooth C, as
shown in Fig.9(b), and since tooth A gradually slides out of tooth C, N and NAC decreases gradually and the direction
of fAC changes. At this point, the forces that tooth B exerts on the drive side of tooth C are the normal force NBC and
the frictional force fBC.

Fig. 9. Applied force analysis in the gear rolling process. (a)tooth A rolls tooth C; (b) both tooth A and tooth B roll tooth C.

4. Experimental study on gear rolling process

A set of double gear roller experimental setup was designed and manufactured as shown in Fig.10(a).
Experiments of different initial bite depths and number of teeth on the gear roller affecting the slippage were carried
out under corresponding parameter conditions to the simulations. The slippage angle was calculated by imprint
method. The average slippage value of three samples rolled by the above method was obtained, the experimentally
observed slippage as a function of initial bite depth and tooth number of the gear roller is shown in Fig. 11, which is
consistent with that in simulation. Fig.12 shows the samples after rolling. It can be seen that protrusions clearly
appear on both sides of the tooth with an asymmetric shape, one on the driven side is tall and sharp while the other
on the active side is short and stout, which is consistent with the result in simulation.

Fig. 10. Experimental device of gear rolling slippage, samples and indentations of sample. (a)experimental apparatus;
(b)staggered and normal tooth region; (c)indentations of the rolled blanks.

Fig. 11. Slippage with influence factors from experimental results. (a)varying initial bite depths; (b)varying number of teeth on the gear roller.
614 Guangchun Wang et al. / Procedia Engineering 207 (2017) 609–614
6 Guangchun Wang/ Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000

Fig.12. Experimental device of gear rolling and the morphology of rabbit ears (a) Baffles; (b)morphology of rabbit ears; (c) enlarged view of
rabbit ears.

5. Conclusions

In this paper, numerical simulations and experimental studies are conducted on the tooth graduation in the initial
stage of cylindrical gear rolling process as well as the formation of rabbit ears in the forming stage.
The blank diameter corresponds with tooth graduation uniformity were proposed for the tooth graduation in the
initial stage of gear rolling. According to the force analysis of the tooth on the blank and the simulation, it shows that
the slippage decreases with the increase in initial bite depth, the increase in the friction between the gear roller and
the blank, and the increase in the tooth number of the gear roller, which is verified by the experiment.
Based on the deformation analysis, material flow analysis and applied force analysis, the forming mechanism of
rabbit ears are analyzed: the velocity difference between the side and the center of the tooth top induces the
protrusions on the tooth top and forms rabbit ears. The asymmetry of the rabbit ear is relevant with the different
direction of the friction exerted on the two sides of the tooth, related to the rotation direction of the gear roller, which
is verified by the experiment.

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51475271).

References

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