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Advancing rocket propulsion through Additive Manufacturing, novel surface finishing technologies and public-private partnerships
Whilst Additive Manufacturing is undoubtedly having a huge impact on the design and manufacture of rocket propulsion systems, most notably combustion chambers and nozzles, the Achilles’ heel of all AM process is currently as-built surface finish.

Technical Papers
Gear Repair for Helicopters and Wind Turbines via Isotropic Superfinishing
The wind turbine, aerospace, and helicopter gear industries recognize the importance of surface finish and surface texture for maximizing component and system performance.

White Papers
Materials Matter: Gear Corrosion in the Manufacturing Process
No matter how well gears are designed and manufactured, gear corrosion can occur during the manufacturing process, which may, in turn, result in catastrophic failure.
White Papers
Materials Matter: Comparing Surface Roughness Parameters
Effective gear design must account for a range of potential failure modes. As discussed in previous Materials Matter columns, gear failure modes can be fatigue-based and progressive (such as micropitting) or sudden (such as scuffing).
White Papers
Materials Matter: Lambda Ratio
The lambda ratio was originally developed to quantify the quality of lubricant operating regimes relative to bearing performance.
White Papers
Materials Matter: Micropitting
Micropitting is a gear failure mode that typically occurs when higher contact stresses are applied to hardened gear teeth. Unlike most other failure modes, micropitting does not always proceed to component failure if left unaddressed.
White Papers
Materials Matter: Scuffing
Gear meshing is one of the most complex areas of study in tribology. Meshing consists of both sliding and rolling motion and can be affected by a number of other operating parameters.
White Papers
Materials Matter: Wind Turbine Gear Repair
Wind turbine gearbox durability has improved significantly over the past ten years. The days of early gearbox failure due to epidemic micropitting are largely in the past.
White Papers
Materials Matter: Power Density and Isotropic Superfinishing
Power density, also described as load-carrying capacity, is simply the amount of load that can be safely transferred by a gear or other power transfer component without failure.
White Papers
Materials Matter: Roughness Measurement of Precision Gear Teeth
Over the past 25 years, industries such as power generation, aerospace, automotive, and others have continuously increased the operational demands of gearboxes.
White Papers
Materials Matter: Gear Surfaces and Operational Performance
In the search for increased performance and durability, gear and bearing design has sought to make use of improved steel grades combined with enhanced heat treatment techniques.
White Papers
Materials Matter: Isotropic Superfinishing
Increasingly stringent operational requirements from customers coupled with enhanced global technical standards have heightened the focus of gear designers on a wide array of parameters that historically would have been of secondary consideration; one such design parameter is surface finish.
White Papers
Materials Matter: Optimizing Performance with Surface Finish and Lubrication
Materials and manufacturing processes have evolved to generate lighter, stronger, and more robust components to meet the demand for more efficient, highly loaded mechanical systems.
White Papers
Materials Matter: The Gear Drawing Roughness Specification
In the January Materials Matter column, “Roughness Measurement of Precision Gear Teeth,” the importance of accurate and repeatable roughness measurement of precision gear teeth flanks was explained.