Experimental and Numerical Study of a Loaded Cylindrical PA66 Gear

Abstract

Polymer gears replace metal ones in many motion and light power transmission applications. This paper presents a numerical method to predict the mechanical behavior of plastic cylindrical gears and its experimental validation. The numerical method uses a viscoelastic model in its linear domain depending on temperature, humidity, and rotational speed. This numerical simulation computes the load sharing between instantaneously engaged gears and provides results such as contact pressure, tooth root stress, or transmission error. The numerical results are then compared to experimental measures on a test bench developed at the LaMCoS laboratory. This comparison allows the validation of the load sharing model.