Sustainable manufacturing of precision miniature gears by abrasive water jet machining-an experimental study

The accelerated global competitiveness and strict environmental regulations have largely been responsible to encourage manufacturers to adopt sustainable or green practices in manufacturing. Whether it is manufacturing of macro or micro products, sustainable techniques are being given considerable importance to improve quality, and enhance productivity with keeping the environment clean and green simultaneously. This article reports on the sustainable manufacturing of precision miniature gears by abrasive waterjet machining (AWJM) technology. The fabricated spur gear has 8400 μm pitch diameter, 12 teeth, and 5000 μm thickness. Considering its cleaner production aspects and significant benefits over other manufacturing techniques, AWJM process was selected to manufacture precision miniature gears. The manufactured gears were undergone a series of post manufacturing inspection and testing to evaluate their geometric accuracy and surface integrity. It resulted in high manufacturing quality (profile error-14.15 μm), superfine surface finish (having average roughness-1.03 μm), and compressive residual stresses with high hardness at the tooth flanks for the fabricated miniature gear. Investigation reported is also accompanied by a short comparative study between AWJM and gear hobbing to manufacture precision miniature gears of the same specification. It reveals that AWJM is capable to fabricate miniature gears of high quality and surface integrity at significantly lower cost and with less environmental footprints compared to the conventional processes.