Prevention of fracture problem of ring gear carrier in planet gear mechanism by stress analysis and material selection

Nowadays, machines are used to increase production amount in almost all industrial fields. To be able to perform their function, design and material selection of the machine elements have to be performed properly to the variables such as load, temperature and pressure to which the elements are exposed in service conditions. Lime mixing machines are also one of the machines used in preparation of lime homogeneously. Due to fluctuating and high loads to which these machines are exposed during service, ring gear carrier in reductor mechanism is broken in a certain time, which leads to halt of leam production system and thus cost increase. In this study, to solve this problem, ring gear carrier in reductor of lime mixing machine was modeled, its material was selected and finally the ring gear carrier was manufactured. The SolidWorks software was used for modelling and stress analysis of the carrier, and the critical regions on the carrier where excessive stresses occur were determined. To decrease the stresses, geometrical modifications were performed on the critical regions, and the analysis was repeated using 5 different materials compose of AISI 1020, ASTM1060, 304 and 316 stainless steel and Hardox 450. As a result of the analysis, the best suitable material was selected as Hardox 450 and the ring gear carrier was manufactured using this material. When compared to AISI 1024, approximately 4 times longer lifetime was obtained in the ring gear carrier produced using Hardox 450. In consequence of cost analysis, it was found that approximately 4 times lower production cost can be obtained using Hardox 450.