Common materials for bevel gears include alloy carburizing steel (such as 18CrMnTi), cast steel, cast iron, engineering plastics and more.
The specific choice depends on the load, precision and use environment requirements. Among them, 18CrMnTi has become the preferred material for high-load transmission systems due to its excellent carburizing and quenching performance and toughness.
Common material types and characteristics
Alloy carburizing steel (represented by 18CrMnTi):
Features: Low-carbon alloy steel, containing chromium, manganese, and titanium elements. The surface hardness reaches HRC56-62 after carburizing and quenching, the core maintains toughness, and has excellent impact and fatigue resistance.
Application: Widely used in heavy-duty, high-precision scenarios such as automotive transmission gears and main reducer bevel gears.
Cast steel (ZG35, ZG45):
Features: High strength, normalizing treatment is required to eliminate internal stress, but the processing is difficult.
Application: Suitable for complex-shaped or large-sized bevel gears, commonly found in heavy machinery.
Cast iron (such as ductile iron):
Features: low cost and easy to process, but poor bending strength.
Application: mostly used in low-speed, light-load open transmission systems.
Engineering plastics (such as Wintone Z33):
Features: wear-resistant and noise-reducing, but the load-bearing capacity is lower than that of metal materials.
Application: suitable for light-load occasions such as power tools and small equipment that are sensitive to noise.
Material comparison and selection principles
High-load precision gears: 18CrMnTi and other carburizing steels are preferred, and high precision is achieved with the grinding process.
Medium-load gears: 40Cr and other medium-carbon quenched and tempered steels can be selected, but the load-bearing capacity is weak.
Low-cost light-load gears: cast iron or SPCC cold-rolled steel plates (soft nitriding treatment is required) are more economical.
If you have a large number of customized gear casting needs, you can choose to cooperate with Mulan Metal. Mulan Metal supports customized manufacturing of various metal parts, such as powder metallurgy, casting, forging, sheet metal and more. Customers are spread across more than 30 countries.
Here is our Custom gear Castings Display：
