Effect of Al Element on Retained Austenite, Residual Compressive Stress, and Contact Fatigue Life of Carburized and Quenched 20MnCr5 Steel Gear

To improve the contact fatigue life of gears, we studied the effect of adding a certain proportion of the Al element to a 20MnCr5 steel FZG spur gear under different heat treatment processes, characterizing the retained austenite and residual compressive stress on the tooth surface. The stability of the microstructure grain size on the gear surface under different heat treatment processes was studied, and the surface microstructure, phase structure, and composition of the gear were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The changes in the retained austenite content and grain size on the gear surface at a microscale of 2-100 μm were investigated. In addition, this study revealed the effect of adding the Al element and the optimization of the carburizing and quenching process on the residual compressive stress on the gear surface at a depth range of 200-280 μm. The effect of higher residual compressive stress and fewer non-metallic inclusions on the gear surface on the stress intensity factor of fatigue crack propagation was considered, along with the effect of deeper hardened layers on the improvement in wear resistance. The experiments in this study significantly improved the contact fatigue life of 20MnCr5 steel gears.