This study was conducted in two phases: Phase I was
to identify root causes of in-process corrosion by
conducting a comprehensive study, using
manufacturing process bench marking, at two gear
production facilities. The Phase I study was
augmented by controlled laboratory experiments. The
desired end product of Phase I was to understand the
sources of corrosion on gears during the
manufacturing process and to identify solutions to
minimize the corrosion problem. Phase II was to
implement the identified solutions to a restricted area
of the manufacturing floor to test them in a production
environment.
Phase I involved defining the boundaries of the gear
making process, developing detailed process maps
that describe all of the steps required to produce the
gears, veriiing the actual inputs at each process step,
and perfoming the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
(FMEA) to assess priority of the process parameters.
After the process conditions that could potentially be
contributing to corrosion initiation were identified and
prioritized, the design of experiments (DOE) were
planned and performed.