The main achieved results are:
- Selection of the most promising materials/heat treatments to characterize by means of tests on gears and bearings
- Test articles gear design (i.e. gears for tests on STBF rig and power circulating rig)
- Bearing design for tests on bearings
- STBF hot oil test rig design, procurement and commissioning
- High torque power circulating rig design, procurement and commissioning
- Modification of existing bearing test rig L17 for hot oil condition, procurement and commissioning
- Test plans definition for tests on gears and bearings
- Gear specimen manufacturing for different materials/processes materials
- Bearing specimens manufacturing for different materials/processes materials
- Execution of bending tests (both on STBF rig and power circulating rig), even at very high cycle (i.e. up to 99 millions) and scuffing tests on carburized gears and "green nirided" gears
- Execution of tests on bearings for the carburized version and dupex hardened version.
The results in terms of bending strength obtained in the SBTF and power circulating rig tests for the carburized material were compared with the one obtained for a baseline material hugely used by the Topic Manager for aerospace applications. The improvement was considerable high and the results enable the possible use of this material for future applications.
The results in terms of scuffing resistances are aligned to the expectations both for the carburized and the “green nitrided” materials.
Global results obtained on the carburized version are very satisfying, both for gears and bearings, and showed a relevant improvement with respect to the baseline carburized materials.
The results obtained on bearings allowed the identification of points of improvement for the future perfectioning of the duplex hardened recipe and showed performances for the carburized version higher than expected.
The duplex hardened recipe can be perfectioned in future projects.
The following positive main impacts can be listed:
- Development and perfectioning of methodologies to experimentally characterize performances of innovative materials and heat treatments for bearings and gears, improving the technical expertise;
- Reinforcement of experimental equipment (enlarged performances of STBF rig, power circulating rig at AM Testing premises and L17 rig at FAG premises);
- Introduction of innovative materials and heat treatments that can lead to significant reduction in fuel burn, noise and emissions for future aeronautical engine applications;
- Opportunity for AM Testing, that is a small-medium enterprise, to collaborate with a big company as FAG to develop innovative technologies in aeronautical field;
- Increase in employment for AM testing;
- Strengthened relationship with the Topc msnager (Avio Aero) for launching future collaborations.
