Distorition in spline nitiriding

[724napier]

How is distortion of spline teeth due to nitriding usually accounted for? I am designing a female splined coupler and plan to have the teeth nitrided by an outside vendor. Is there anyway to account for distortion during the nitriding process? I plan to speak to the vendor to see if they can give me any feedback. It seems like the only way would be to have them nitride a test part.

 

[gearcutter]

If the manufacturing process is well controlled and the correct form of nitriding is used; the amount of distortion will be minimal, if at all.
On fine pitch profiles; take care which nitriding process that you use as tooth section can increase due to growth of the 'white layer'. This can reduce the backlash tolerance. The amount is generally insignificant but it is something to be aware of.

Ron Volmershausen
Brunkerville Engineering
Newcastle Australia

http://www.aussieweb.com.au/email.aspx?id=1194181

 

[TVP]

I agree with Ron. Sometimes there are issues with steels that are very high strength (tempered at < 500 C) that are subsequently nitrided at temperatures > 500 C.