Recent developments in sustainable manufacturing of gears: a review

Environment awareness is of the utmost importance to all socially responsible manufacturers. To be competitive on a global scale manufacturing needs to be aligned with various strict environmental regulations. The manufacturing industry at large is striving to improve productivity and product quality while maintaining a clean and sustainable environment. This can only be achieved by adopting sustainable techniques of manufacturing which include minimizing the number of manufacturing steps by employing advanced and alternative methods, environment-friendly lubricants and lubrication techniques while machining, reducing wastage, active waste management and minimizing energy consumption etc. Gear manufacturing industries, the major service providers to all other industrial and manufacturing segments are also focusing on to implement the techniques targeting overall sustainability. Some of the recent developments to achieve sustainability in gear manufacturing can be summarized as: reducing the use of mineral-based cutting fluids by employing alternative lubrication techniques i.e. minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) and dry machining; material saving, waste reduction, minimizing energy consumption and maintaining economic efficiency by reducing the number of gear manufacturing stages; eliminating the necessity of finishing processes by utilizing advanced methods such as gear rolling and wire electric-discharge machining (WEDM) and finally increasing productivity by minimizing tool wear at high gear cutting speeds through the use of alternative tool materials and coatings. This paper reviews and amasses the current state of technology for sustainable manufacturing of gears and also recommends ways to improve the productivity and quality while simultaneously ensuring environmental sustainability.