CALCULATED ASSESSMENT OF CONTACT STRENGTH, WEAR AND RESOURCE OF METAL‐POLYMER GEARS MADE OF DISPERSION‐ REINFORCED COMPOSITES

Abstract

The method of calculating the wear and life of gears with metal wheels is used to analyze the bearing capacity and tribotechnical characteristics of metal‐polymer gears with wheels made of a dispersion‐reinforced composite – polyamide filled with dispersed carbon and glass fibers. Taking into account the pairing of the engagement, the maximum contact pressures at the beginning of the transmission operation were estimated, as well as their changes due to wear of the teeth of the composite wheels upon reaching acceptable wear. It was established that the degree of change in initial pressures due to wear substantially depends on the gear material and, in the case of a composite gear, a significant decrease is observed at the gear input. The linear wear of the working profile of the teeth and the localization of its maximum values are determined. It is shown that the estimated transmission resource with a carbon composite gear is more than eight times higher than that with a glass‐filled polyamide gear. This parameter is largely determined by the operating conditions of the master and slave transmission links. The resource of the “steel gear‐ composite wheel” pair is about 2.4 times the resource of the “composite gear‐steel wheel” pair. The best option is “steel gear‐carbon‐filled polyamide wheel”, because its resource for wear is 20 times greater than that of the transmission “glass‐filled polyamide gear‐steel wheel”.

Keywords

• metal‐polymer gears
• antifriction composites
• glass and carbon fillers
• contact pressures
• method of calculating wear
• resource