Abstract
Demand for micromachine parts, including mini gears, has been increasing recently because of the continuously decreasing size of consumer electronic products. Forging is a conventional method of manufacturing mini gears, and it is characterized by a higher production rate, low material cost, and low total cost. Therefore, many researchers have focused on improving the technology used for forging mini gears. The present study investigated the effect of grain size of a material on the die cavity filling rate for the material during the forging of mini gears. Experimental results were compared against those of a simulation software for analyzing the applicability of software to simulations of materials with different grain sizes. The analysis indicated that materials with large grain sizes exhibit poor material flow capacity on the die base plate compared with materials with smaller grain sizes. For materials with large grain sizes, the maximum load required to fill die cavities is lower. The difference in the maximum load between the experimental results and the simulation results increased when the grain size exceeded the addendum thickness.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Tay BY, Loh NH, Tor SB, Ng FL, Fu G, Lu XH (2009) Characterisation of micro gear produced by micro powder injection moulding. Powder Technol 188:9–182
Ishida M, Takeda H, Nishiyama N, Kita K, Shimizu Y, Saotome Y, Inoue A (2007) Wear resistivity of super-precision microgear made of Ni-based metallic glass. Mater Sci Eng A 449–451:149–154
Kim WJ, Sa YK (2006) Micro-extrusion of ECAP processed magnesium alloy for production of high strength magnesium mini-gears. Scr Mater 54:1391–1395
Gietzelt T, Jacobi O, Piotter V, Ruprecht R, Hausselt J (2004) Development of a micro annular gear pump by micro powder injection dieing. J Mater Process Technol 39:2113–2119
Debin S, Jie X, Chunju W, Bin G (2009) Hybrid forging processes of micro-double gear using micro-forming technology. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 44:238–243
Saotome Y, Iwazaki H (2001) Superplastic backward microextrusion of microparts for micro-electro-mechanical systems. J Mater Process Technol 119:307–311
Yeh MS, Lin HY, Lin HT, Chang CB (2006) Superplastic micro-forming with a fine grained Zn-22Al eutectoid alloy using hot embossing technology. J Mater Process Technol 180:17–22
Lin XY (2002) Zn-22Al eutectoid alloy micro gear train and the performance test. M.S. Thesis, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Chung Hua University, Hsinchu
Su YS (2006) Forging preform design and experiment of micro gear. M.S. Thesis, Department of Mold and Die Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Kaohsiung
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, CC. Grain-size effect on the forging formability of mini gears. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 79, 863–871 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-015-6883-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-015-6883-y