Effects of discrete fibre reinforcements on the wear resistance behaviour of polyamide-based spur gears

In many situations, the polymer gears are the perfect replacement for traditional metal gears. Compared to metal gears, the polymer gears will generate more heat at the gear tooth contact surface and more wear loss. Hence, this study aims to decrease the wear loss and increase the load-carrying capacity of the polymer gears. To achieve this, the reinforcement materials were added to the base polymer gear material. In this study, Nylon-66 was chosen as the polymer matrix material and an isolated glass fibre and steel grid were used as the reinforcement materials. Three different types of polymer spur gears such as Polyamide Gear (Nylon-66), Reinforced Polyamide Gear (Nylon-66+Glass Fibre), and Hybrid Glass Fiber Steel Grid Gear (Nylon-66+Glass Fibre+Steel Grid) named PG, RPG and HGFSGG were fabricated using injection moulding machine and each type of gears were compared for wear loss and specific wear rate under the similar testing conditions. The wear test was performed in the Forschungsstelle fur Zahnrader und Getriebebau (FZG) test rig at 1500 rpm with an applied load of 20 N for 12.5 h continuously. From the test results, it was identified that HGFSGG polymer spur gears have exhibited a lower surface temperature and better wear properties compared to the other two types of spur gears. From the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis, it was noticed that the PG spur gear exhibited deep and uniform wear at the gear tooth surface. In contrast, RPG spur gear exhibited glass fibre distortion and abrasive-type wear. The SEM micrograph of the HGFSGG spur gear reveals the presence of very few surface flaws in the gear tooth surface.