Experimental Investigation of the Minimum Oil-Film Thickness in Spur Gears

As a pair of gears is loaded, the minimum oil-film thickness between the gear teeth decreases and can approach a magnitude equal to the magnitude of the surface roughness. Metal-to-metal contact then occurs between the microscopic peaks on both mating teeth surfaces. Therefore, the minimum thickness of the film separating the mating teeth surfaces may be considered as one of the criteria of capacity for a gear drive. A testing technique that was developed for measuring oil-film thickness between loaded gear teeth while running is presented in this paper. The voltage drop across a thin oil film that is required to cause an electrical discharge was used to determine the oil-film thickness. A specially designed machine containing a planetary gear train was used in these experiments. The relationships between the minimum oil-film thickness and the load transmitted by the gearing under certain conditions were determined using this method.