This SAE Recommended Practice defines the set-up and procedure for conducting the SAE single tooth bending fatigue test. The details of the test fixture to be used (referred henceforth as "the test fixture" in this document) and gear test sample and the procedures for testing and analyzing the data are presented in this document.

The objective of this document is to provide a means to evaluate the effects of material and process variables on the bending fatigue behavior of gears using the test fixture. The bending fatigue life of gear teeth is generally influenced by variations in such factors as geometry, material, microstructure, residual stress profile, surface finish, case depth, surface and core hardness.

This test serves as a screening tool to evaluate changes in one or more of these variables to enable optimization of the processing and design of gears.