Abstract

Laminated composites have so far received little attention as a potential material for gear drive applications. In the presented study, the thermomechanical performance of a newly developed type of epoxy impregnated, autoclave-cured carbon fibre-reinforced polymer gear—running in pair with a steel pinion—was analysed, using a combination of experimental and numerical approaches. The employed methods enabled the identification of the composite’s mechanical, thermal, and tribological characteristics, as related to the studied gear pair application. A newly proposed, finite-element-analysis-based iterative procedure enabled an implicit evaluation of the analysed material pair’s coefficient of friction (COF), which is a key parameter in determining the gear pair’s thermomechanical characteristics. For the considered material pair, a value of 0.34 was identified for the coefficient in the quasi-steady region. As the coefficient is strongly correlated with frictional heat generation and significantly affects the surface shear stress, it can consequently have a meaningful influence on the composite’s wear rate. The developed COF identification procedure was validated using a reciprocating cylinder-on-flat tribological test method. The composite gear’s service life was additionally tested at various running loads, resulting in pitch contact pressures ranging between 400 and 540 MPa. Lifetime gear test results showed a markedly superior performance compared to the high-temperature thermoplastic polyether ether ketone, which is typically employed in the most demanding polymer gear applications. Several methods are additionally proposed that could further improve the developed composite gears’ performance.

中文翻译：

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具有摩擦系数评估隐式模型的层压碳纤维增强聚合物齿轮的实验和数值分析

摘要

迄今为止，层压复合材料作为齿轮驱动应用的潜在材料很少受到关注。在本研究中，结合实验和数值方法，分析了一种新开发的环氧树脂浸渍、高压釜固化碳纤维增强聚合物齿轮（与钢小齿轮配对运行）的热机械性能。所采用的方法能够识别与所研究的齿轮副应用相关的复合材料的机械、热和摩擦学特性。新提出的基于有限元分析的迭代程序能够对分析的材料对的摩擦系数 (COF) 进行隐式评估，这是确定齿轮对热机械特性的关键参数。对于考虑的材料对，值为 0。34 被确定为准稳态区域的系数。由于该系数与摩擦生热密切相关并且显着影响表面剪切应力，因此它可以对复合材料的磨损率产生有意义的影响。所开发的 COF 识别程序使用往复气缸平面摩擦学测试方法进行了验证。复合齿轮的使用寿命在各种运行负载下进行了额外测试，导致俯仰接触压力介于 400 和 540 MPa 之间。终生齿轮测试结果表明，与高温热塑性聚醚醚酮相比，它具有明显优越的性能，后者通常用于最苛刻的聚合物齿轮应用中。