ABSTRACT
The lubrication situation in gears looks most unpromising because of the inherently poor hydrodynamic film-forming potential of an unfavorable geometry coupled with very high contact pressure. The quantities of load, entraining speed, and relative geometry of the gap between the surfaces are all readily obtainable from involute kinematics. A thorough exposition of the basic mathematics of conformal gears is covered in S. P. Radzevich. The speed of the gears is taken to be constant. It is clear that the available formula for minimum film thickness underestimates the severe load-dependent thinning that occurs under heavily loaded conditions typical of conformal contacts. The results of such analyses show that although significant films of micron order can be generated over much of the corresponding Hertzian contact area, the thinning occurring at the points of minimum clearance can lead to lubricant films of submicron order.
