Basic study on molding and characteristics of pure natural fiber spur gears made from bamboo fibers extracted with a machining center

We look at a growing-up force from bamboo to construct a sustainable manufacturing system and have developed the green products made from the sustained reproducible natural materials. Thus, we devised a novel method to extract bamboo fiber which is high-quality with high-accuracy with a machining center. Meanwhile, we also developed the hot press method of bamboo fibers with green mold technology. As a result, the simple shape products could be molded with these technologies as self-bonding bamboo fiber green products. In the present report, we attempt to produce a self-bonding bamboo fiber spur gear, which is a machine element with a complicated shape. First, the molding die is designed and fabricated, and then the molding process is performed to develop a green spur gear. Second, its strength performance is estimated to find out a proper fiber shape. Finally, its driving test is performed to evaluate its dynamic performance. It is demonstrated that the developed bamboo fiber gear is considered to be effective as one of green products.