Enhanced vibration reduction in spur gear pairs using damping particles with supplementary lubricant: an experimental study

Purpose This paper aims to propose an approach to substantially improve vibration reduction in spur gear pairs by using damping particles in conjunction with supplementary lubricant. Design/methodology/approach The effectiveness of the proposed approach is experimentally evaluated via the vibration signal of a gearbox. First, the experimental device is designed for spur gear pairs with a speed ratio of 1:1. Both driving and driven gears have six technology holes for containing the damping particles. In addition, the particle filling rate is maintained at 50% of the hole volume. In the case of adding lubricant, BESLUX GEAR-ATOX 320 or BESSIL F-100 oil is supplemented to the holes in steadily increasing volumes. The Simcenter SCADA system collects the vibration signal of the gearbox from the acceleration sensor and exports the data for the Simcenter TESTLAB software to analyze the signal. Findings The experimental results indicate that the root mean square (RMS) value of radial vibration can be reduced up to 16.05% when using only the damping particles. Especially, adding lubricant can further diminish the radial vibration’s RMS value by up to 61.65% compared to using the damping particles without lubricant. Furthermore, selecting a suitable viscosity of the lubricant can further enhance the vibration reduction. Originality/value The significant vibration reduction efficiency of the proposed method, which integrates damping particles with inter-particle lubricant, is experimentally validated for the spur gear pair transmission. This study is expected to provide an effective approach to improve the vibration response of gearbox systems. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-07-2025-0314/