The wear is one of the gear failures, which occurs on the contacting tooth surface of heavy loading and high speed gears, especially, the early wear is considered to be one of the most essential factors which have various influences on the further ability to run.
It is considered, therefore, that it is an important problem to investigate the relations between the wear of gears and the changes of the tooth profile, and the tooth fillet strain. The present investigation was undertaken to determine the change-process of the tooth profile and the change of the rate of the load distribution by the wear of gear teeth. The results were obtained as follows ;
(1) The wear rate was great in the initial period of use, and diminished as contacting progresses ; it was recognized, especially, that the change-process of the tooth profile was largely influenced by the transformation in the early wear.
(2) The change of the tooth profile in the early wear influenced on the tooth fillet strain and the rate of the load distribution, and these tendencies were continued in the later period of running.
(3) On the relation between the meshing position and the wear of gear teeth, the wear rate at the tip of wheel was larger than that at the root of it. On the contrary, in the case of pinion, the wear rate at the root was larger than that at the tip.
(4) In the case of wheel, the change-process of the rate of the load distribution was chracterized by that the contact load had decreased in the addendum contact zone of the two pairs of teeth, and had increased in the deddendum as the increase of running time.
(5) The advance of wear was recognized even in the near of the pitch point where the relative specific sliding is small.
(6) The dynamic variable load was hardly recognized in the experimental conditions and materials used in this study.