Investigation of the performance of short fiber reinforced plastic gears at different temperatures

In this study, polymer gears performances (tooth root bending stress and fatigue analysis) are improved with the help of high mechanical properties materials names fibers. Short fibers which are made from varied materials and have different lengths and diameters to be added in POM and PA 66 polymers that are widely used polymers in gear technology. Widely used polymer materials which are POM (Polyoxymethylene) ve PA (polyamid) 66 are used as baseline study. Polymer gears are studied theoretically by using VDI 2736 standard and analyzed in ABAQUS and KissSoft. Short fibers have added and elastic properties of materials are obtained for different temperatures by using Digimat software. Representative Volume Element (RVE) is created via Digimat and can be used to analyze in analysis program namely ABAQUS. Also, obtained values are defined in KissSoft library and new materials are added. Fiber reinforced plastics that shows high mechanical properties are obtained and gear optimization studies are conducted. Results and obtained values for both base studies and short fiber reinforced polymers are compared and discussed. Finally, gears which are made from short carbon fiber reinforced POM (POM-CF-60 %) are optimized and modified to reduce bending stress and improve fatigue life. Tip relief and profile shift coefficient are applied on gears and results are compared.