Analysis of the Contact Stresses of Spur Gears Manufactured by 3D Printing from Composite Materials

Abstract

Additive manufacturing is a technology rapidly expanding on a number of industrial sectors. However, it is still hampered by low productivity, poor quality and uncertainty of final part mechanical properties. Materials for production of given components are composite materials, especially on the basis of so-termed CFRP, CRP (carbon fibre - so-termed polymers reinforced by carbon fibres). Composite fibers have properties that can add high strength and stiffness to the printed part. Like all manufacturing processes, composite printing is only suitable for certain design applications. The fibers have a predetermined width during printing and, due to geometrical limitations, can only be used to reinforce structures meeting a certain minimum thickness. The objective of this paper is to predict the contact stresses of carbon/onyx spur gear using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) results through the torque load. Finite element software ANSYS Workbench 20.0 is used to study the stress intensity factor of spur gear. A 3D solid model has been established for simulation of the spur gear which enables to understand the mechanical strength and strain at failure of the composite materials.