Sintered Gear Applications

Sintering is an additive process of manufacturing where powder metal mixed with alloys and binding agents are turned into a solid shape with the help of extreme pressure. Sintering process was introduced in the 1940 but since then many industries have employed its use. Automobile and power tools are few examples of sintered gear applications. While many a shape can be created from the sintering process, we are focusing on the simple yet extremely important gears.

Gears are simple to look at, they are small, they have teeth cutout on the outside or inside of a circular disk. While simple and small in form factor, gears are vitally important in any mechanically or electrically operated devices. Even before metals were used to manufacture gears, big wooden structures with teeth cut into them were used in heavy lifting tasks. With time came improvement and metallurgy brought us metal alloy gears that can now be found from a wrist watch to a motor engine. Sintered gear applications can be seen in most industries, but here are a few that frequent it the most.

Automobiles
Power Tools
Medical Industry
Domestic Appliances
Outdoor Power Equipment

There are other industries such as marine where gears and their use is seen but these five have exponentially high usage rate.

Automobiles
Gears are a fixture in almost all moving parts within in the drivetrain. From the gears of the vehicle itself to the fixtures inside the engine and those responsible for moving the tires, gears are everywhere in automobiles. Varying shapes and sizes gears are used and almost all of them are produced through the sintering process. When it comes to sintered gear applications, automobiles or motorized vehicle industry is the largest consumer.
Power Tools
Small device that help both a normal Joe and a professional put or take off fixtures, that is the use of power tools. They are easy to use, pack a lot of power and are small enough to be mobile. All of that is possible due to multiple hears present within the device. Small gears are present in the motor of the power tool while the movement of the tool itself is conducted by a larger gear. This can vary depending on the type of power tool in use but sintered gears are applied all over power tools.
Medical Industry
While the rudimentary handheld equipment used for metal purposes are at most times made of single stainless steel. Modern innovation means mechanization and that means more movable parts where gears are situated for easy movement of the machine. From surgical robots assisting doctors in life preventing ways, to modern rest and recovery best, sintered gears can be found in all of them.
Domestic Appliances
Mixer, Grinder, washing machine, dryer, hair dryer, there are multiple devices found within are homes that would be useless without gears. Moving parts within the appliances communicate and work with one another with the help of gears transferring the power of the gear to the output mechanism. Most of the gears used in devices, most of the parts used in these devices, are made through sintering. One of the biggest consumers of sintered gears has been the domestic appliances industry. Almost every motorized appliance in your house has at least one.
Outdoor Power Equipment
Even though not only for professionals, outdoor power equipment is used to maintain a surrounding’s appearance. Lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, chainsaws, anywhere a shaft is used to transfer power from the motor to the real-world interface, gears are used. Outdoor power equipment and their power requirement rely heavily on sintered gears.

Advantages of Sintered Gear

As it is evident, if a motor is involved, a gear is not far behind in helping transfer of that power through different designs, shapes and sizes of equipment. While there are cases where other types of gears are used, but in most cases, sintered gears are preferred and there are several reasons for that.

Tight Tolerance: Sintering process involves pressing of powder alloys together with binding agents and then putting it through a furnace to fuse the particles together. This results in tight grouping of molecules and high tolerance can be achieved. In a large assembly it is important all parts correspond to a strict tolerance requirement and that can be achieved with precision. Sintered gears are, at most times, small in size and it needs to correspond with multiple interfaces within a machine so having tight tolerance can always benefit an assembly line.
Manufacturing Repeatability: Sintered gear production is a closely repeatable process. Since the production involves set temperature for all, a fixed mold and uniform material, production is identical between different parts of production. There is little to no difference in the manufacturing process, a guarantee other manufacturing process cannot give, or cannot give at the same price point of production.
Cost: When it comes to production, sintering is the cheapest and most assured way to get what you want. The parts are uniform, they have high tolerance, the same result can be had over and over again, all of that is to say there is little to no down time in the manufacturing process. Cost plays a vital role in production planning and sintered gears are the best when it comes to all things, especially cost.
Environmentally Sound: As manufacturing has taken off all over the world, there is the concern for the environment and need to meet energy as well as climate standards. Sintered gear production is energy as well as climate additive because there is little to no waste from the sintering process. As mentioned above, sintering is an additive process, there is a machining waste like in die casting and machining processes. So, environmental concerns are turned down a little when it comes to sintered gears.

At Eurobalt Engineering OÜ, we are manufacturing sintered gears for all kinds of applications. Doesn’t matter if the shape you need is helical, bevel, pinion, combinations, or spiral bevel. We offer the best powder metallurgy solution for our customers depending upon their needs. So, come utilize our years of experience in the sintered gear manufacturing process and see how it can be applied to your production needs. Call us or send us an email and one of our technical sales specialists would gladly help you make the best decision for you project.