Deformation Control of Large Cast Steel Parts — Large Gears

The birth of large cast steel large gears, from drawings to finished products, can be described as a magnificent transformation. Its manufacturing process involves multiple procedures such as casting, heat treatment and mechanical processing.

The drawing is the birth certificate of the gear and records its whole development plan. By optimizing the casting scheme of the casting, simulation software is adopted to simulate the casting process before pouring, so as to verify the feasibility of the casting process plan.

In the molding workshop, the gear on the drawing takes shape vividly in the pit molding process. When the upper and lower sand molds are closed, the virtual lines on the blueprint turn into a tangible physical space.

When the drawing data is transmitted to the casting workshop, molten steel makes a magnificent transformation in the furnace. The orange-red molten steel, like boiling magma, flows down the gating system into the cavity of the large cast steel part.

As the sand mold is stripped away, the rough gear blank emerges for the first time, retaining a dull red residual temperature. The pouring and riser gates on its surface resemble unpruned branches, awaiting further transformation, endowed with the unique rugged texture inherent to casting.

The door of the heat treatment furnace closes slowly, and the gear completes quenching and tempering. When discharged from the furnace, the originally plain rough blank is endowed with a tough "framework". Its hardness, toughness and other mechanical properties are greatly improved, and its service life is correspondingly extended.

In the machining workshop, the blank begins its gorgeous transformation.With every full rotation of the gear, the cutting tool delivers 36 precise strikes. The jig boring machine calibrates the reference holes; milling cutters carve out the tooth grooves as they rotate; the gear hobbing machine moves along preset trajectories, shaping each tooth profile into something comparable to a work of art.

When the large cast steel gear is certified qualified by quality inspectors, its transformation is fully completed, ready to be delivered to customers.