A novel technique of polishing gear working surface using PECMP

Polishing is dispensable for maximizing the life and overall performance of gears. Pulse Electrochemical Mechanical Polishing (PECMP) is combined by pulse electrochemical and mechanical action, it can reduce the surface roughness value to Ra 0.02µm and even lower and meet the requirement of gear working surface(especially for gear hard surface) polishing. The processing mechanism of PECMP and its influencing factor are discussed in this paper. Some experiments are investigated to research the surface characteristics of gears polished using PECMP, their microtopography and machining texture. The results show that PECMP have many advantages over traditionally polished surfaces with regard to friction factor reduction, noise reduction, precision keeping and anti-conglutination. For the better application of PECMP, the influencing factors and future works are discussed as well.