Abstract
Traditional gear component production has long been characterized by a fragmented approach, with discrete stages of soft machining, centralized heat treatment, and hard machining operating in isolation. Recent materials science and engineering advancements enable a transformative approach to gear manufacturing by directly integrating heat treatment into the production line. Breakthrough developments include micro-alloyed steels capable of preventing grain growth at high carburizing temperatures up to 1050°C and the high-temperature low-pressure carburizing process, which enables rapid case hardening. In response to these innovations, a new heat treatment module called SyncroTherm has been designed to seamlessly integrate into the manufacturing line, offering a heat treatment process with cycle times that synchronize with soft and hard machining operations, fundamentally reimagining the gear production workflow.
