Tooth wear is the main problem of aviation splines. Early studies on spline wear were primarily conducted between 1970 and 1985. After receiving thorough treatments, the life of American aviation splines was significantly extended. Spline wear studies have ushered in another upsurge since 2010. China Aviation Engine Group has done a lot of research on improving the anti-wear performance of aviation splines.

According to the statistics of AVIC Shenyang Engine Design Institute [33], splines and accessories should be inspected gradually every 100 h. Twelve accessories and twelve splines were inspected during one inspection. As shown in Figure 9, five internal splines and eleven external spline shafts of fuel booster pumps were found to have worn severely, and they all needed to be replaced. The troubleshooting experience showed that the main problems of aviation splines are inadequate surface hardness, excessive axial movement value, excessive misalignment, and insufficient lubrication. However, the spline wear problem has not been effectively solved, and the root cause of spline wear and the mechanism of rapid spline wear are still unclear. Thus, it is urgent to carry out in-depth theoretical and experimental research.

Most damage of tooth-side centering splines is caused by wear. Spline wear can be generally divided into three stages, as shown in Figure 10 [34]. The first stage is a short running-in process, the second stage has an approximate constant wear rate, and the third stage has a strong damage effect. The results of the spline wear test showed that three wear stages do not always exist simultaneously, shown as Curves A and C in Figure 10. In addition to friction and wear parameters, the working state also plays an important role in the wear process. Splines with large torques wear more severely than those with large transverse forces [34].

Mating external and internal spline teeth slip with each other when the spline runs at high rotating speeds. The slips may occur in the following three directions, namely axial, radial, and torsional directions. Friction and heating issues are very prominent when considering variables like misalignment and vibration, so splines require reliable lubrication [35]. Splines are often lubricated using grease, oil/oil mist, or no lubrication. Grease-lubricated splines are simple to operate, easy to maintain, and highly reliable. They also have a unique property of sealing teeth from the environment. Grease-lubricated splines have drawbacks in that they are greatly affected by working temperature and have poor grease continuity and retention. When the grease is thrown out or completely squeezed out due to centrifugal force, the friction coefficient between the mating spline teeth increases as a result of no lubrication. In addition, the oxide coating cannot be produced because grease prevents air from entering the spline tooth surface at the initial stage. In small misalignment states, the aviation spline generates very little heat, and its temperature rise mainly comes from the heat transfer from the attached shaft. Currently, few lubricating greases can work at temperatures above 121 °C. Grease lubrication is therefore inappropriate for the enclosed area because its heat is difficult to dissipate. Continuous oil/oil mist lubrication makes the heat output from the spline increase rapidly, so splines running at high speed with oil lubrication would still have greater continuous service performance. The disadvantages of oil lubrication include its high cost and the needs of additional pipelines, oil stations, and other auxiliary systems. What is more, the spline wear will be accelerated once impurities enter the working environment through the lubricating oil. The non-lubricated spline is often used in conditions with compact structure, low running speed, light torque, and high working temperature. Additionally, the spline can use intermittent or discontinuous lubrication, or the radial hole can be employed to direct lubricating oil toward the spline engagement point, and the lubrication can be achieved through capillary actions [36]. Although the lubrication mode has the above rules to follow, it also needs to be determined according to the actual structure and working environment.

Spline wear is a complicated process that can be either mechanical, chemical, or both. Mechanical wear can be significantly alleviated by selecting the correct lubricant. If the lubricant is unable to reduce the creation of wear debris, wear propagation will dominate the wear process. The hardness of oxides is often higher than that of the spline matrix. That is, if wear debris remains in the lubricant, it will instead aggravate spline wear and even lead to connection failure. Essentially, grease lubrication cannot play a positive role if the aim is to improve the service life of splines. According to laboratory tests [37], splines need to be cleaned and relubricated at least every 50 h of operation. For aviation splines, the downtime is unbearable, to say nothing of the high maintenance costs. Only oil lubrication can achieve a significant improvement because, in addition to friction characteristics, lubricating oil can wash away the wear debris and further achieve complete lubrication. A summary of the influence of lubrication mode on spline wear is shown in Figure 10 [34].

In-depth experimental studies on the spline wear process were conducted by Weatherford and Valtierra [38]. They studied the effects of crowned amount, misalignment, lubrication, materials, working temperature, and surface treatment on spline wear. The qualitative effect of lubrication on spline wear in the dry air environment is shown in Figure 11. They found that a suitable lubricant will create an induction phase at the initial operating stage, which considerably delayed spline wear. Rapid wear with a consistent wear rate will happen when the lubrication runs out or the spline surface is damaged. They also found that the wear rates are different when the lubricants are different. Mura et al. [39] added graphene to standard grease to produce a high-performance lubricant effect. The friction force of different grease graphene compounds was measured through experiments. The results showed that grease mixed with graphene could reduce the friction coefficient.

To sum up, the lubrication modes, lubricant parameters, and temperature have an important impact on spline wear. The individual operating environment and spline state must be taken into consideration while choosing a proper lubrication method and determining an acceptable cleaning and relubrication cycle.

Although the good alignment of connected rotors is required by spline assembly standards, in practice, manufacturing and assembly errors, component tolerances, dirty assembly surfaces, wear, and cold and hot deformations together would lead to large misalignment. Misalignments can cause a number of problems, such as vibrations in the spline rotor [40], spline teeth breakage, scratches, cold deformation, wear, and pitting. Misalignment also generates considerable axial force. According to ARINC measurements, the axial force generated by significant misalignment is large enough to disengage the coupling. The axial force generated by a misaligned spline greater than 2 degrees can be as much as 900 N [2].

Curà et al. [41] established a theoretical method based on a non-finite element method to determine the exact number of engaging teeth and shared forces in involute spline couplings with parallel offset errors. Elkholy and Alfres [42] addressed that misalignment leads to a redistribution of the load on each spline tooth, which increases the maximum contact and bending stresses of the tooth. The uneven load on the tooth also generates tilting and friction moments, which will further transfer to bearings. Test investigations show that misalignment has a significant effect on spline reliability, wear, and life [4]. As shown in Figure 12, misalignment significantly increases spline wear, and a small increase in misalignment results in a sharp increase in wear and a sharp decrease in wear life. The most efficient way to extend wear life and decrease wear on splines, as well as the most efficient way to simplify spline design and lower lubrication and maintenance pressure, is strict control of misalignment. In view of the inevitability and severity of spline misalignment, Ref. [43] gives the requirements for misalignment control of couplings in rotating machinery.

In general, the magnitude of fretting between internal and external splines is far greater than that of the rotor connected by splines. Splines are often regarded as the representative of the fretting damage of complex components. Spline wear is inseparable from the vibration of splines. Many researchers have studied fretting wear, fretting fatigue, and plain fatigue caused by splines under actual load conditions [44]. The main mechanisms of micro-damage are fretting wear and fretting fatigue, which coexist in the same contact and can cause damage wear and contact-related crack initiation [45]. Jason [46] proposed a method for predicting the fretting fatigue life of a system that takes into consideration the material removed as a result of fretting wear. This method can predict some critical experimental phenomena, such as crack occurrence. Leen et al. [47] and Sum et al. [48] simulated the operating conditions of aero engine splines and analyzed the wear problems caused by fretting motion using computational contact mechanics and finite element methods, considering complex asymmetric loads and variable loads. Liu [49] found that wear can be reduced by improving the machining accuracy of the spline, reducing the spline fit clearance, and improving strength by heat treatment. Houghton et al. [50] proposed a method to predict the fretting fatigue life of aero engine splines and obtained the wear of splines under complex loads due to friction coefficient and speed. Curà and Mura [51] identified the fretting wear damage in actual working conditions by experiment using crowned splines. They found that the fretting wear is mainly caused by the relative motions between teeth with angular misalignments. The influence of torque and misalignment on spline wear is shown in Figure 13.