Dr. Matija Hriberšek, univ. dipl. inž., dr. Simon Kulovec, univ. dipl. inž., oba Podkrižnik, d. o. o., Ljubno ob Savinji

Abstract:
In the past decades, polymer materials have been increasingly used in gears. There is lack of fatigue data, such as Woehler diagrams, wear coefficients of polymer gear pairs which allow a more precise calculation for the power train application. The paper presents durability testing of polymer gears with performed average temperature measurements in the meshing zone. After testing, an analysis of the influence of different polymeric materials and reinforcing fibers (i.e. polymer composite gears) on the achieved number of cycles and temperatures was discussed. The results showed that the POM-PA gear combination proved to be the most suitable from the point of view of the most achieved load cycles. The paper explains that glass fibers have a significant effect on improving the tensile strength of the material and abrasive effect, which result in higher average temperatures in the meshing zone.

Keywords:
gears, testing, polymers, temperatures, fatigue stress