Verfahren zur Herstellung eines oberflächengehärteten Zahnrads aus einem metallischen Rohling

摘要

Initially, an uncut gear blank is softened by a heat treatment process to provide a relatively soft level of hardness throughout. Then, the softened gear blank is machined so as to form a plurality of teeth about the circumference thereof. The relatively soft machined gear is next subjected to a prehardening process, wherein the surfaces of the teeth and the outer region of the core are hardened to a predetermined intermediate level of hardness. Finally, the prehardened gear is subjected to a contour hardening process such that the surfaces of the gear teeth are further significantly hardened. The outer region of the core of the gear remains at the intermediate hardness level, while the inner region of the core remains at the relatively soft level.