Gear shaping is one of the most prominent gear cutting processes as it can be used to effectively manufacture spur and helical external as well as internal gears. Thus, the accurate prediction of the cutting forces developed during the cutting process is of great importance because it can greatly affect the wear and the cutting tool’s life. This simulation model able to simulate the kinematics involved in the process and provide accurate results regarding the undeformed chip geometry as well as the cutting forces.

The Gear Shaping kinematics can be considered a superimposition of three different components: the reciprocating motion, rotary feed motion, and radial feed motion.

In gear shaping, the final gap is produced by a series of successive generating positions (GP), which correspond to different rotational steps of the cutter and the workpiece. Each generating position removes material from the workpiece, which corresponds to a chip. The simulation model is able to predict the undeformed 3D chip geometry along with its thickness and total area.

The undeformed chip geometry is used in cutting force prediction.

The gear gap produced by gear shaping is compared to the theoretical involute curves. The difference between the theoretical and the simulated gear gap is extremely low and less than 3μm.

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