Manufacturing high-precision gears has been a key requirement in the automotive, aerospace and wind turbine industries. The volume of gears manufactured is ever-increasing and is expected to reach new limits owing to the drive towards electrification and sustainability. In the aerospace industry, a series of target key performance indicators (KPIs) need to be reached if industry is to meet its sustainability goals (Refs. 1-2). Based on goals set down by the Aerospace Technology Institute that includes the reduction of noise and emissions levels by up to 65% and 90% respectively. The use of high-efficiency gearboxes is crucial for reaching these targets. Looking at the manufacturing processes involved in machining such gears, gear hobbing and gear skiving are the prime candidates for achieving both the throughput and the quality required for such applications. Gear skiving in particular has been in the spotlight of research in this sector owing to the reduced cycle time and the capability to process internal and external gears. The history of the process is well documented and starts in the 18th century (Ref.3) and is followed by a considerable hiatus during which the advances in machine tool manufacturing made the realization of the process on an industrial scale possible. In recent years, industrial and academic research programs have been focusing on gear skiving processes, including modeling, theoretical and experimental approaches in the study and optimization of this manufacturing process. The research presented in this paper extends the work done on CAD-based simulation approaches with an investigation of the surface topography of gears produced through gear skiving and the investigation of the cutting tool characteristics on the geometry of the produced gear. The study is complemented with the investigation of the cutting forces required in the machining process.
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