As micropitting of gears has become increasingly recognized as a cause of gearbox failures, gear manufacturers have
begun to require documentation of gear oil micropitting performance. The German FVA Procedure No. 54, currently the
only industry recognized test, has limited availability and takes several months to complete. A laboratory test has been
developed using a roller disk machine to simulate micropitting of gears. This test was instrumental inthe development of
new micropitting resistant gear oils. A helical gear test was developed using specially designed gears running on a four
square test rig to further document micropitting performance prior to field testing the new oils.