The Lubrication of Gears - Part III

Robert Enichell!o GiEARTIECH. Albany,. leA

Introduction
This is the final part of a three-part series on the basics ofgear lubrication. It covers selection of lubricant types and viscosities. the application of lubricants. and a case history. Selecting Lubricant. Type The choice of lubricant depend such as those used in iron ore and cement mills,

antenna drives. bridge drives. cranes, etc. 'Gears in the e applications run slowly, and they are
therefore boundary lubricated, mu t bond strongly to resi
t

The lubricant

being thrown off the the lubricant into'

gear teeth. However. the queezing and liding action of gearleeLh tends
10 push

onthe type

of gearing and enclo ure, operating speed and load. ambient temperature, and method oflubricant application. Most gears are lubricated with one of the following types: oil. grease, adhesive open-gear lubricant, Dr solid lubricant. The optimum lubricant for any application is the least expensive, considering both initial cost and maintenance co ts, thai meet the requirements. Oil is ihe rna
'I widely

the root of the gear teeth where it is relatively ineffective. These iubricants are applied by hand brushing or by automatic systems which d sliver

an intermittent spray .. Some open gear lubricants

are thinned with
II

quick-evaporating

olvent/

diluent to make them easier to apply, Open-gear lubricants share the disadvantages of grease lubrication, and they are especially costly (and messy) to maintain. For these reasons. the 'trend i away from open gear toward enclo ed, oillubricated gearboxes whenever possible, Solid Ilubricants, usua\Jy in the form ofbonded, dry films. are
1I

used lubricant because

it is readily distributed to gears and bearings and has both good lubricating and cooling propertie . Also. contamination may be readily removed by filtering or draining and replacing the oil. However, it requires an oil-tight enclosure provided with adequate haft eals. lowbecause il. does not circulate Grea e is suitable only for low-speed, 'load applications

ed where the temperature.i

too

high ortoo [ow for an oil orgrea e: where leak age cannot be tolerated; or where the gears must operate in a vacuum. These lubricantsare usually molybdenum disulfide (MoS teeth and cured
10 2 )

or graphite in an the gear

well, and it is a relatively poor coolant. Grease lubricated gears are generally boundary lubricared becausethe grease is either pushed aside or thrown from the gear teeth, Contamination from wear particles or other debris is u ually trapped in the grea eend require
COSIly

inorganic binder, which is appliedto Polytetrafluoroethylene disulfide (WS ) coating

2

form a dry film coating. (PTFE) and tungsten are also used. Solid

lubricants are expensive to apply and have limited wear lives. However. in many applications, such as spacec raft, they are the only alie mati ve and can provideexcelleut service.

maintenance on-light.

to-eliminate.

Greaseis often used that are not

to avoid leakage from enclosures

However .. if all the factors are conand reliable than a grease

Only oil lubricants will be discus ed in greater

detail. Gil should be used as the lubricant unles the operating conditions preclude its use. Generally. the simplest and least expensive lubrication system for gears is a totally enclosed. oil-bath of mineral oil.

sidered, it is usually found that an oil lubricant is more economical for gear lubrication. Open-gear lubricants are viscous, adhesive semi-fluids used on large. low-speed, open gears.

1,4

GEAR

TECHNOLOGY

The lubrication cat, straight-bevel.

requirements

of pur. hell-

ture. Ester and bydrocarbon synthetic lubricants have high viscosity indices. giving them good fluidity or low vi cosities at very low temperaat high temperathat tures and acceptable viscositie

and spiral-bevel

gearsare

essentially the same. For thi clas of gears, the magnitudes of the loads and .Iiding peeds are

similar, and requirement

scuffpropertie caeed with mineral
t

.forvi cosity and antiMany (R&O)

tures. The volatility of e ters is lewerthno ing oil loss at high temperature. long service life. the extra co
t

are virtually identical. and oxidation-inhibited The low viscosity

of mineral oils ofthe same vi cosity, thus reducDespite their of synthetic

indu trial spur and helical. gear units are lubn[U

oils,

R&O oils.

lubricants generally cannot be ju tified for oilbath ystems unless there are extreme temperatures involved. becau e the oil mu l be changed frequently to remove contamination. Selecting Gear Lubricant The recommendations ~hould be followed when Vi co it.y

commonly called turbine ,oils, are used in many high- peed gear unit, where the gear [Oath loads are relatively low. Mlneral oll without anti- cuff additives are uitable forhigh-speed, hghtly loaded gear oil films. property In these where the high entraining developsthick i vi co ity, EHD AntiCOl

velocity of the gearteeth of the lubricant

of AGMA 250.042 electing lubricants

e the mo t important because the metal-to-

for enclosed gear drives that operate at pitch line velocities up to 5,000 fpm. AGMA 421.063 should be consulted 5,000 fpm). In our discussion of gear failure' modes, we found that viscosity is one of the most important lubricant properties. and the higher the viscosity. the greaterthe protection against the various for high-peed drives (>

scuff/EP additives are unnecessary gear teeth are separated, elirninatiag

metal contact and the cuffing mode of failure. Slower speed gears, especially carbu rized gears, tendto be more heavily loaded. require higher viscosity The e gears lubricants generally

with anti-scuff additives. Hypoid gear. such as those used for autoprone to scuffing For these reasons, motive axles, are especially high sliding velocities,

geartooth failures. However. the viscosity must

be limited to avoid excessive heat generation and power loss from churning and shearing of the lubricant by high-speed gears or bearings. The operating temperature of the gear drive deterrmnes the operating viscosity of the lubricant. U the lubricant is too vi cou , exce sive heal i generated. cant temperature increasing T.he heal rai e the lubriaad reduces its viscosity, of the lutemperaa hing returns where viscosity

because they are heavily loaded and they have hypoid gear oils have the higher concentrations of anti-scuff additive. For critical applications ..the contact temperatore hould be calculated with Blok' lubricant. resistanc e. Worm gears which generates Fortunately. have high hdingvel.ocity losses. are relatively lubricated with with lubrics.ignificant frictional
I

equation

and compared to the scuffing temperature of the Thi quantitative method is effective cuffing for selecting a lubricant with adequate

reaching a point ofdrrnini the starting

3.

bricant leads to significant

higher operating oxidation

ture and a higher

rate, without viscosity,

gain in operating

their tooth load

Gear drives operating ill cold climates must 11 ave a lubricant that circulate s freely and does not cause high starting torques. lubricant A candidate gear

light. and they are successfully ity additives. ecule

mineral oil. that are compounded fany oil or low acid tallow, of the additive form

Robed ErricheUo
is lire principo; ;11

These oils eontain 3% to 10% The polar molurface films by with the soap which

hould have a pour point at Jea t 5C Typical pour points :for

(9f) lower than the expected minimum ambient start-up temperature, mineral gear oils are lOaF while synthetic gear lubricantshave significantly lower pour point of about -40QF, Pour point depre ants are u ed
110

GEARTECI:{. a gear ('onsul'rill.qfirm in lbull.l'. CA. His article reprillled

here lias wall the STU's 1990 Wilber Deutcn Memorial Award [or Ihe

phy ical ad orption or by reaction surface oxide to form a metallic "lubricity" Synthetic or friction-reducing lubricants

acts as a [ow hear strength film. improving the properly. are u ed for appJ ica-

best anicle on the

practiral aspect. 01 lubrication. Mr. Errichello is a member of ASME. AGMA. and is (I

ta.ilor pour points of mineral lubricants for auto:motive hypoid gears to. be as low as -40F. The pitch line speed of the gear index of the required viscosity. is a good An empirical.

tions, such as aircraft gas turbines, where the oil must operate over a wide temperature range and have good oxidation stability at high tempera-

Registered Professional Engineer in till' State of

California.
JULV/AUGUST 19S'

equation for determining required viscosity is

15

,,1)

up' by pitting fatigue. The empirical. equation for

7000
V40:::-----

fhi's applicationgi ve
(2)

(V) O.S v
where v 40
::: 40

7000
:::

128 cSt

,(3000) 0.5

= lubricant =

kinematic viscosity at 40C, cSt This indicates that the viscosity per AGMA 42 L06 (68 cSt) is much too low, and the visco ity per AGMA 250.04 050 cSt) is appropriate. Hence, definitions of high- peed ver us abetter low-

V := operatingphch line velocity, ft/min v= 0.262 d n d operating pitch diameter of pinion, in. n= pinion speed, rpm
Caution must. be 'u ed when using AGMA recommendation forviscosity. Theauthorknows The pinion speed of an application where two gear drives were considered to be high-speed. was 3.625 rpm, qualifying the gear units as highspeed gear drivesper AGMA 421.06. The gear drives were supplied with oil having the recommended viscosity per AGMA 421.06 of ISO 68. However, because the plnion was relatively small, its pitch line velocity was only 3,000 fpm. This qualifies the geardrives as slow-speed per AGMA 250.04, which recommends a viscosity of ISO 150. Both gear dri ves failed within weeks of start-

speed must be carefully con idered, and pitch

line velocity is generally shaft peed. Thegear index than drives were rebuilt. with

new gearsets and the ISO VG 68 oil was replaced with ISO VG 150. The gear drives now operate without overheating. eliminated. For critical applicatinns, Higginson's" equation. the specific film
011

and the pitting ha been

thickness should be calculated with Dow

and

The specific film thick-

ness Ii a u ef ul measure of the lubrication reg ime.

It can be used with Fig. ~as an approximate guide

to the probability of wear-rei ated surface distress.

3 . '0
2.'0
, , I ,

,I:

I
II: '1

II ___
I

"' " en' tn

1..0.1

1.0

i
I

II'
,

II,
, ,

II

I
, ,

5%
40% II

J
I

,.
,

.,
100'

. aD%.
I

:z: 10.5 ~

I
,

,I

l,.......

ht'Tttt __
I I

-tI~"""1lli-li! JIll' ~,
.I'

i=
:::li: ....., 1::.

"~+I ~..f.",,7ot==-f"' __
~

~~""-'~.""'-i-.liPROBABIUTY OF WEA~ 1-'

.~.

I'

Ii

'1
,

,:RELA.TeD'

!ClSTRESS

0..2
0.11
1

w
1..1.. 1..0.1 n,

w
U'l

vv
I /

~~I
,I
I I

i'
I

' II
I

'

J' ,

II

11
,

10.05

./1

V'

1/

I
I
I ,

I I

I[

""
0.02 0.01

'I
, I

I
I

I'
I I
1 :

I ,

III;
50 100

I I I I I, ,I I

500,

1000

5000
FPM

10000

50000

PITCH UNE VELOCITY.

Fig. 1- Probability of wear distress, percent. (Fmm AGMA 2001-888,

1988.)

16

GEAFI

TECH",OlOa'f

Fig, 1 i

based on the data of Wellauer and

For very high-speed

gears" (above ]6,10100

Holloway,S which were obtained from several hundred laboratory tests and field applications of gear drives.

fpm), there is a danger that the amount of oil

carried to the incoming side of the gear me h

may be inadequate. and it is prudent to add a upplementary flow at 'IIIeincoming side of the

Applying, 'Gear Lubricants The method of applying the lubricant to the gear teeth depends for the mo. t pari. primarily on
the pitch line velocity, Splash lubrication y tern are tile

gear mesh.

Generally, about 2/3 of the oil

to the outgoing side and 113 of the flow ide for lubriceis a of the oil jets

flow should be supplied of the mesh for cooling. directed at the incoming The placement At tion.

irn-

plest, but Ihey are limited to a pitch line velocity ofabout 3.000 fpm. T,IIe gears should dip into the oil bath for about twice the tooth depth
to provide

crucial factor when pitch line velocitiesexceed 20.000 fpm. periment number and location peeds this high. exto find the optimum for the oil jets. ensure adequate are required

adequate

splash for pinions and

bearings and to reduce losses due to churning. The gear hou ing should have troughs to capture the oil flowing down the housing walls. channeling it to the bearings. can be exThe range of splash lubrication

In pressure-fed

ysterns, the followingpa(Q

rameten must be COli idered

lubrication and cooling of the gear mesh: Quanlity offlow.jet size. feed pressure, and number-of jets. There are general guidelines, based on experience and experimentation, for specifying these
t

tended to about 5,000 fpm by using baffles and oil pans te reduce churning. However. above 3.000 fprn, providing auxiliary cooling with fans and improving beat transfer by adding housing is usually necessary. Above 5.000 fpm, most gears are lubricated by a pressure-fed syslem.
Ifill.

parameters, but each application mil ing conditions and requirements,

be evalu-

ated independently ba ed on it particularoperatAll, empirical equation used to calculate the quantity of oil flow in gallons per minute is q;;;;; PIc where c is taken from Table t p= transmitted power. hp q ling 2

to the

For gearboxes with

antifriction bearings, sprayingrhe oil al the gear

mesh only and re.lying all pia h to lubricate the of 7 iOOO [pm maximum.

bearings is permis ible up to a pitch line velocity Above this speed, and
:for gear drives with journal bearings, both the gears and bearings should be pre ure-fed. Tile oil.jet should be placed on the incoming side of thegear mesh for pitch line velocities up to 8,000 fpm. Above 8.000 rpm. more oil is for lubricating. and the oil neededforceolingthan

= oil flow rate, gpm

hp, where weight isnot critical, the

For a typical indu trial application transmitde igner might choose the constant c = 200hpl gpm, resulting in a copious flow of ] gpm. On the other hand, for a high efficiency aviation application transmitting 200hp. where weight ls critical, c

= 800 might

be chosen. re ulting in a

flow removes heat best by being directed at. the outgoing ide of the gear me h where the oil jets can trike the hoI, drive-side of the gear teeth,

lean flow of 0'.25 gpm, Some applications may require different flow rate than tho e given by _able I.. For instance, wide-face. high-speed

Table 1 ..Typical. c
(hp/gpmj

.on !Flows Per

'Gear Mesh
Comment General indu trial

Flow
Conditions

200
400
800

Copious Adequate Lean Starved

Typical aviation Light-weight, highefficiency aviation

Only for unusual
conditions

1000

JULY/AUGUST

I &g,

1'1

gearing may require a higher flow rate toensure uniform cooling and full-face coverage. The proper jet size, feed pressure ..and number of jets must. be determined to maintain the proper flow rate.jetvelociry, and full-facecoverage. The diameter of a jet can be calculated for a. given flow rate and pressure ba ed on the viscosity of the oil' at the operating temperature. mum recommended size is 0.03". U ajet it. Typicaljetdiarneters
7

provide complete Iubricationcoverage

of tile face

width. More than. one jet for each gear me h is advisable because of the possibility of clogging .. The upper limit IOn the number of jets is determined by the flow rate and jet diameter; too many

jets for a given flow rate will resultin a jet

diameter less than the minimum. recommended.

There

are practical limitations onjet: ize, and the mini-

Case History
Ill. an lndustrialapplieation,
creaser gearboxes 24 speed-in10

smaller than Ibis is used, contamilllailis in the osl may clog

range framO.03"- 0.12". The feed pressure determines the jet. velocity,

were used to traasrnit 346 single

horsepower and increase speed from 55 rpm 375 rpm. The gears were parallel-shaft,

which in tum determines the amount of oil thai penetrates the gear mesh. Typical feed range from 20.-WO psig.

helical, carbunzed, and ground. The splasb lubrication system used a mineral oil without antiscuff additives with ISO H>Oviscosity. about 250. hours of operation. After two gearboxes the primary

pressures

lndustrialapplicaticn

feed pressures are typically 3D psig, and highspeed aerospace applications. are typically 100

failed by bending fatigue .. The gear tooth profiles were so badly wom determining failure mode was impossible .. Three other gearboxes with less service were elected for in pee-

psig.

hl general, the higner the pressure. the

greater the cooling.,8 but the higher the pressure, the smaller the jet diameter. Therefore, pressure :is limited by the minimum recommended diameter of 01.0.3". The number of jets should be sufficient to jet

lion. One had logged] 5 hours, while the other IWO had operated for 65 hourseach. Upon disas. embly, no broken teeth were found, but all three

30

40

so

200 100 160

100

110

120,

SO
30 20 10 8
6
4

40 ~ ..... s,
:f
~,
0

E
,..:
I~

Ui
0
Ul.

u.

s
~
...J

:l

!7!

!i
11.0

o.a
0.6
,6

"'

t--... ~

i'....

"i"', ~
"

................

11

<;

Fig. 2 - Absolute vi cosily versus temperature for mineral gear lubricants with a viscosity index of 95. (from AGMA 200 1-888, 1988.)

18:

ClEAII

TECHNO~OClV

BULK TEMPERATURE, (0C)

';0 20 301 40 SO 60
I,
I

7080

90

100
I

no
I

120

130140

1501 1:60

170

I
:

-----~ ---

I
I

150 200 BULKTEMPEAATURE,

Fig. 3 - Pressure-viscosity

250 (OF)

300

350

coefficient versus temperature for mineral gear lubricants ..(From AGMA 200I-B88.

1988.)

gearboxe . had scuffed gear teeth. The primary failure mode was scuffing, and the earlier bending fatigue failures were caused by dynamic load generated by the worn gear teeth. Subsequent in pection of the remaining gearboxes revealed that ali had scuffing damage, which probably had occurred immediately upon start-up because the loads were not reduced during run-in, Fortunately. a prototype gearbox had been run at 1/2 load for about 50 hours. When these gears were in peered, no signs of distress were seen on any of the gear teeth. The tool.h profiles were smooth, with surface roughness estimated to be 20 j.J:in rrns, and the contact pattern indicated 100% face contact. This gearbox was reassembled and run under 1/2 load until. its oil sump-temperalure reached equilibrium at 200F. For this application, the ambient temperature was in the range of 50F to 125F. The center distance of the gears was 16 inches and the pitch line velocity was 400' fpm .. Referring to AGMA 250..04, the recommended viscosity for these conditions is ISO 1.50. or ISO 220..

Using the empirical equation we get:

(3)

7000
V 40 ""

:::::350

cSt

(400)

0.5

Hence, the empirical equation recommends a viscosity close to ISO 320.. It is apparent that the viscosity that was originally supplied (ISO VG 1(0) was too low. The EHD film thickness was calculated with a special computer program. 9 The gear bulk temperature was assumed to be 230F (30 degrees hotter than the measured oil sump temperature), The following data for the ISO YO 1.'00 lubricant was obtained from Figs. 2 and 3: lJi. = 6,6 cP(O.96 x 10 -6 Reyns) o (J. =1.02 x 1O-4in21b Fig ..4 shews a plot of the film thickness versus position on the pinion tooth. The minimum film thickness OCClUS low on the pini.on
JULY/AUGUST 1 gg I

19

Min lambda = .'073 Probability of wear .175

>95%

5.5

4.5

:g
S
t'I:I;

,tIS

l ,.125
",,'"

"

..r.,1

3.5'

,.J,

LPSTC

HPSTC
2.5

Pinion roll angle in degrees

fig. 4 - Film thicknes versus pinion roll angle for gear tooth geometry of cuffed gearset,

450

35'0

25'0

l.PSTC
15'0

HPSTC

1"'"

Max FIDash'Iernp

= 439
e

Scoring Probability

63% I

50.

I
Pinion

II

ron angle

in degrees

Fig, 5 - Flash temperature versus pinion mil angle for gear tooth geometry of scuffed gearset,

20

GE"R

T!ECHNOlOG'I'

tomb near the lowest point of single tooth contact (LPSTC) where h . = 2.1 micro inches. The mID specific film thickness, based on 20 uin rms surface roughness for both profiles, is A. '" 0.073. Fig. I. shows that the gears operate in the boundary lubrication regime. The program predicts that the probability of wear is greater than 95%. The contact temperature was also calculated with the program. The scuffing temperature for the ISO BO 100 lubricant was calculated wkh the equation for non-anti- cuff mineral oils: Ts'" 146 + 59In(100);;;;; 418F Fig. 5 shows a plot of the comact temperature versus position on the pinion tooth, The maximum contact temperature occurs high on the pinion tooth near the highest point of single tooth contact. (HPSTC) where Tc = 439F. The program predicts that the probability of cuffing is
63q(. This is considered to be at high risk of

scuffing. The relatively high temperature peak: near the tip of the pinion tooth wa caused by the geometr-y of the gears. TIle designer selected a long addendum tooth for the pinion. Long addendum pinions perform well in speed reducers. where they increase the amount of recess action an d decrease the am Oll ru of approach action of the

gear mesh. Since recess action :ismuch smoother than approach action, long addendum pinions give speed reducers smooth meshing characteristics. When operated as a speed increaser, however, the approach and recess portions ofthe gear mesh reverse, making a long addend lim pinion rough running and vulnerable to scuffing. To explore the possibilities for reducing the scuffing risk. new gear tooth geometry was proposed with the pinion and gear addenda designed to minimize the flash temperature rise. The new gearset.analyzed with the program, assumed the lubricant was a mineral oil with anti-scuff additives, with a viscosity of ISO 220, and with the following properties: 110::: 10 cP( 1.45 x 10-6 R eyns) 4 a = 1.09 x 10- in2/lb Ts = 245 + 59In(220) '" 563"F Fig, 6 shows that the film thickness increases to h _ = 2.7 !lin, and the pecific film thickness mm increases to A. = 0.097 ..Fig. I showsthat the gears still operate in the boundary lubrication regime, however, the probability of wear is reduced to 94%, Fig. 7 shows that the optimized gear geometry reduced the maximum contact temperature to Tc = 302F. The combination of reduced contact

..275

Min lambda = .097 Probability of wear = 94%

.225 6

//
LPSTC
..125

=r'

3
("')

s
:3 ..... 4
0 ::I
"'I

HPSTC

-----------~~----~--.....--I:

....,,,. .

.,.,....--

//

.075
20 30 Pinion roll angle in degrees
40

Fig. 6 - Film thickness versus pinion roll angle for geartooth geometry optimized for maximum scuffing resistance.

JULY,AUGUST

1991

21

350

250

LPSTC

HPSTC

Max Flash Temp 50

= 302
30

Scoring Probability = < 5% 20

I

Pinion roll angie in degrees

Fig. 7 - Flash temperature versus pinion roll angle for gear tooth geometry optimized for maximum scuffing temperature and the increased scuffing resistance provided by thehigher viscosity mineral oil with anti-scuff additives reduces (he scuffing probability to < 5%. Typical of many gear failures, this case history shows that several factors contributed to the
References;
1. .BLOK, H. "Les Temperatures

resistance.

de Surface dans les Cendi-

lions de Graissage sons Pression Extreme," Second World

Petroleum Congress, Paris, June, 1937.

Z. AGMA 250.04. "AGMA Standard Specification - Lubrication of Industrial Enclosed Gear Drives." 3. AGMA 421.06. Herringbone 4. DOWSON. "Practice Sept., 198 l,

failures:
.The lubricant viscosity was too low. -No anti-scuff additives were used.

for High Speed Helical and

Gear Units." Jan, 1969.

D. "Elastohydrcdynumics," Vol. 182.PT3A. Paper No. 10, 1967.pp. 1.51-167.. .."Applicationof Gear Drives." Trans.

A gearbox designed as a speed reducer was

used as a speed increaser. The gear teeth were provided with a coating or plating to ease running-in, -The gears were not run-in properly under reduced loads. Gear failures. as exemplified by the case history, can be avoided if designers and operators recognize that the lubricant is an important component of a gearbox, and appreciate that the tribology of gearing requires the consideration and control of many interrelated factors.
Acknowledgement: Reprinted by permission Engineers. of Society of

Proc. Inst, Mech.Engrs.,

5. WELLAUER,EJ.&HOLLQWAY,G,A EHD Oil, Film Theory to Industrial AMSEJ. Eng. Ind., Vol. 98, 626-634. 6. A_KAZAWA,M.,TEJ'IMA,T.& Test of High

Series B. No.2,

May. 1976. pp,

NARlTA, T. "FuIlSca!e

Speed, High

Powered Gear Unit - Helical Gears ASMEPaperNo.80-C2/DEl'-

of25,OOOPSat200m/sPLV." 4.1980. 7. DRAGO, R.J. Fundamentals 1988.

of Gear Design . Butterworth,

8. AKIN, L.. & TOWNSEND, D. "Study of'Lubricant Jetflow Phenomena in Spur Gears." NASA TMX-7IS72, OcL, 1974.
9. SCORING+. Computer Program. GEARTECH Inc., 1985-1989. Software,

Tribologists and Lubrication

22

GE ....R TECHNOLOGY