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Abstract
The importance of plastic gears for modern industry is growing every year. The engineer sizing plastic gears has a very difficult task. There is no international standard available for the strength analysis. The only method publicly accepted is the German guideline VDI2545. In addition to a lack of calculation methods there is a need for measuring material properties. This paper shall give an overview over the current situation and will provide some guidelines how to rate plastic gears, how to handle the lack of material data available and how to conduct measurements of material properties to make them suitable for the available calculation methods.
Introduction
The number of gears produced out of plastic is getting dramatically larger. This is primarily due to the improvement of plastic materials strength. The properties of plastic can be varied in a large range, especially when compared to steel. It is now possible to select an optimal material for a specific task based on the following properties: strength, wear, stiffness, damping and noise production. In spite of the growing use of plastic gears the scientific research is astonishingly low, especially compared to the resources used for research on metal gears. A mirror of this situation is the availability of standards. The standard used for the strength analysis of cylindrical plastic gears is the German guideline VDI 2545 and is poor compared to the respective standards AGMA 2001 and ISO 6336 for metal gears. AGMA 909-A06, ANSI/AGMA 1006-A97 and ANSI/AGMA 1106-A97 address plastic gears, but only the geometry. ANSI/AGMA 920-A01 offers much general information about the applicability of plastic material for gears and presents the typical test procedures. The VDI 2545 is currently invalid and fits into the overall lack of research into plastic gearing. One of the major restrictions of the VDI 2545 is the availability of data for only three different materials (PA12, PA66, POM). Currently several groups are attempting to produce reliable data for modern materials. These experiments have proven to be expensive and are very time consuming. A design engineer therefore needs to know how he can design new plastic gears successfully without the use of a valid standard and without scientific materials research data. The engineer must rely on knowledge gained from past experience. Usually metal gears are produced in a generating process. Plastic gears most often are injection molded. If the insert for the mold is manufactured with EDM (e.g. wire erosion) the tooth form can be optimized without additional costs. For generated gears this is only possible with special tools, which increases the costs. On the other hand, typical injection molded gears have a relatively low quality (ISO 9-10), a problem, however, which can be handled with special arrangements. Optimized plastic gear tooth forms are also designated hybrid toothing in literature. 1 / 19
Strength analysis Material data for plastic gears (Whler curves or S-N curves)
For the sizing and optimization of gears, the calculation of root, flank and wear strength for the prescribed lifetime are of large importance. In the same way as with steel gears, for plastic materials the specific parameters (root pulsating strength and flank strength) are dependant on the number of load cycles. For plastic gears these parameters depend strongly on temperature and the type of lubrication (oil, grease or dry running). Where one value for the tooth strength calculation is sufficient for steel, a plastic material requires the necessity of several S-N curves (e.g. for POM fig. 1).
Figure 1: Temperature dependent Whler curves for POM. The method according to VDI 2545 [1] for the strength analysis of cylindrical gears made of plastic is the only worldwide known method for the calculation solution. Even though it was cancelled some years ago it is still in common use due to the lack of a replacement. Currently Prof. Werner Krause and Dr. Jrgen Wassermann in Germany along with their associates have plans to develop a replacement for the guideline but it is in the very early stages of development. Todays materials are much more numerous than the materials mentioned in the VDI 2545. Some of them show a significantly higher strength, e.g. reinforced material. Typically, the producer of the material will only provide values for the tensile strength, the aforementioned data for a gear calculation is not known and can not be derived from the tensile strength. Changing the recipe of a plastic might lead to higher ultimate strength, thus increasing the root strength, while the flank or wear resistance is decreasing at the same time due to tribological effects. A simple solution for the problem is not available. The material properties have to be verified using prototypes or by means of a long term test on a test rig. In most cases it is not necessary to conduct hundreds of measurements, to get enough data points for a diagram like in figure 1 but by determining some data points the diagram can be generated by interpolation with good
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accuracy. These data points can be derived from experience with produced gear boxes or experiments on test rigs. Still the effort is significant.
Figure 2: General layout of the strength calculation procedure for plastic parts.
balancing. The assumption is, that the heat quantity Q1, which is produced by the power loss in the tooth meshing is equal to the heat quantity Q2 that is dissipated to the inner space of the gearbox housing. This in turn is equal to the quantity Q3 which is dissipated by the housing to the environment. This approach leads to a formula, which is also used in the VDI guideline. The factors in the formula differ slightly between original publication, the formula in the VDI guideline and other publications.
1, 2 = a + 136 P
Where
k k2 u + 1 17100 + 6 .3 3 z 2 + 5 b z1, 2 ( m ) A
1,2 [C] a [C] P [kW] [-] [-] zi u [-] b [mm] [m/s] m [mm] k2, [-] k3 [-] closed), A [m2]
is the surface or body temperature of gear i, i=1,2, is the ambient temperature, is the power transmitted, is a coefficient taking friction into account (not the friction coefficient!), number of teeth of gear i, i=1,2, transmission ratio z2/z1, face width, circumferential speed, normal module, factors described in the VDI2545, see below, takes the influence of the housing into account (none, open, partially open or is the surface of the housing.
Comparison of the results of the temperature calculation according to Hachmann and Strickle and measured temperatures in tests show slightly lower calculated temperatures in the root area, and significantly higher calculated temperature of the flank surface. Frequently, the calculated temperature exceeds the melting temperature of the material, although the test showed no melting of the flank. Erhard and Weiss [6] proposed a modified calculation of the temperature, taking the ratio of the power-on-time into account. Based on measurements, they defined continuous power-on-time of 75 minutes to be permanent running. For all cases with shorter periods they introduced a factor fED to reduce the calculated temperature. Since this work was done after the publication of the VDI guideline, this correction factor is not included in the calculation formula of the temperature in the VDI 2545. The factors k2 and show up during the derivation of the formula. They take the material combinations and lubrication type into account. The factor k2 also determines whether the calculated temperature is the body or the surface temperature. For k2, k3, and tables are provided in the guideline. The temperature calculation is one of the critical points not only in the VDI 2545, but in the calculation of plastic parts in general. Due to the problems mentioned above it is recommended to use a fixed temperature whenever possible to supersede these problems. For slow running gears (circumferential speed <5m/s) the guideline recommends the use of ambient temperature. Most plastic gears are used for very short running period (less then 1% operating time per hour), so that for all these cases the ambient temperature equals to the operating temperature.
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However, for the ambient temperature a large range might be defined, for example for car applications from 20C to 80C.
Ft Y YF Y KA
fK =
3Ft 1 + 2 , 2b cos t E1 E 2
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The VDI 2545 sets a limit of 0.1 times module for the deformation. This of course is not a firm limit as it is in contrast to the permissible stress. It is important to check the deformation carefully if the teeth remain loaded for a certain time period. If the product of deformation and time period gets to large, permanent deformation might be the result, which can cause severe problems.
1.0 fixed
DIN 3990
DIN 3990
One of the major disadvantages of the guideline VDI 2545 is the lack of the stress correction factor YS, or equivalent the constant value of YS =1 in the formula. This factor describes the notch effect in the trochoid part of the root area. It is likely, that the same notch will have a slightly different effect on a steel part than on a plastic part. In either case there will be an increase of the local stress depending on the form of the notch. In Niemann the contact ratio factor Y is set to one. The argument in the textbook for this is the typically low quality of the plastic gears (ISO 10 or 11), so that only one pair of teeth will have contact. This is not fully correct since plastic teeth will bend much larger than steel teeth (lower Youngs modulus) compromising the pitch errors. In addition the quality of plastic gears has greatly improved since the printing of the textbook mentioned. Based on the available data we propose a method VDI2545 modified, which combines the advantages of both methods. With the modified method it is possible, to quantify more accurately the behaviour of variants of gears.
determine the maximum limit and the minimal necessary safety factor. This leads then to the nominal safety factors for the sizing or rating of the new design.
Figure 3: Proposed procedure for the application of calculation methods. Steel material properties can be determined comparably easy (e.g. according to ISO 6336, part 5). One must be very careful in determining the plastic material properties. The nominal safety factors derived by the procedure described are only valid for the material used in the existing designs. When using a material with significantly different properties the safety factors have to be adjusted! The described method has proven to be very successful in practical use. It is important to build up systematically the base of own know how, experience, and to maintain it. Typically, each gearbox with plastic gears is tested before the manufacturing is released. This test data has to be used!
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It is very important to decide when and which method to apply. As a rule by thumb it can be stated:
Frequency of Tp (*)
Calculation method
<= 2.0
Static Strength Check with Tp VDI2545 with Tp Static Strength Check with Tp and VDI2545 with Td VDI2545 with Tp and VDI2545 with Td VDI2545 with Td VDI2545 with Tp und VDI2545 with Td
Tp : Peak (maximum) torque Td : Nominal (endurance) torque Bold: The most common cases (*) : Number of load cycles with Tp (during full life period)
Figure 4: Graphical method for the determination of the worst case in the root area. Following the approach of Obsieger it is possible to locate the critical cross section of the tooth. As an option, the force can be applied at the tip as in ISO 6336 Method C, or at the point of single tooth contact method B. The strength analysis according to VDI 2545 can be carried out later with this specific data. In addition, it is possible to visualize the geometrical course of the stress in the root area and the course of the maximum stress in the root area during the meshing of the gears (figure 5).
Figure 6: Course of stresses in flank and root during meshing of the gears. The calculation of the Hertzian stress can also be conducted along the tooth flank based on the real tooth form. Here for each point of contact the respective radii of both gears are determined and with this the Hertzian stress is calculated. The same data allows the calculation of the sliding velocity, the local heating, the efficiency and the heat production of these tooth forms. With these additional information it is much easier to optimize the tooth form than only with the standard calculation that only gives information about one point of contact. 9 / 19
Figure 6: Comparison of an involute design with a cycloid design. Above: stresses during the meshing. Below: sliding velocities.
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vibration reduction, highest strength, low sliding velocity and even stiffness or smoothness of the rotation, one or the other action may be preferred. The following are typical actions for the optimization of the geometry and give suggestions to which calculation methods should be applied:
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5. Change of tooth thickness for the increase of expected lifetime of metal/plastic combinations
In worm drives often the worm is made out of steel, while the worm gear is molded with plastic. The life expectancy of this combination can be increased significantly by thinning the teeth of the worm, and on the other side thickening the teeth of the plastic gear. The values for root and tip circle remain more or less the same. The sizing of the geometry of such a pair is not simple since often contact interference, undercut and other problems occur. For the strength analysis, however, the standard method usually is enough. The critical point might be the very different operational pressure angle versus the nominal pressure angle, or the necessity of a modified root rounding due to the reduced space in the root area. Then the calculation of Hertzian stress and the root stress should be carried out based on the real tooth form.
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Figure 7: Test rig of company Scholz GmbH & Co. KG, Kronach, Germany
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X-tables
Figure 9: First results of the Victrex measurements, comparing PEEK with PA66.
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General task The properties of plastic material is highly dependant on temperature. Therefore it is not enough like it is for steel to determine one Whler curve, but several Whler curves are needed for different temperatures (e.g. 40, 60, 80, 100C). In addition the strength of the flank is dependant on the type of lubrication (oil, grease or dry running), which means that the characteristics for the strength of the flank have to be determined for three different types of lubricant!
In principal the measurement can be done with some arbitrary pair of gears, for which for instance an injecting mold is available. The module (DP) should be in a typical range. The calculation method can map the measured values quite good to other modules. Nowadays most of the plastic gears are with module 1.0mm or smaller (DP >= 25 in-1). The measurements for the VDI, however, where done with gears with module in the range of 35mm. We recommend using gears with module 1.0mm for the tests. All the other gear parameters like number of teeth, width, profile shift can be chosen arbitrarily, e.g. using existing molds. The centre distance of course has to fit to the test rig. The parameters of the gear are taken into account when evaluating the results of the measurement.
To measure the wear, a test rig is necessary that can run gears with given torque and speed at controlled temperature. So the configuration is usually motor -> torque measurement -> pair of gears -> torque measurement ->brake. The flank temperature must be measured continuously and if necessary must be controlled by heating up the test rig. The test rig from Scholz is equipped with a pyrometer for this, scanning the flank. In addition, the tooth thickness is measured continuously, either automatically or manually, by stopping the gears and measuring the backlash of the gear set. For a new material a first test should be done to check if, after a first running in phase, the wear is really linear over the load cycles . So a first gear must be tested until the tooth thickness is reduced to the limit (e.g. 50%). To reduce the test time for this test it is carried out with a relatively high load. After verifying that the wear is really linear, further tests can be carried out on a reduced basis, for instance until the loss of tooth thickness is 5%. As soon as the slope of the wear can be extracted from the measured points, the rest of the associated wear over load cycles curve can be extrapolated. To get a Whler curve for a given temperature, several tests are done on different torque levels. Other parameters, like speed for instance, can have an influence. Our experience has shown that in most cases it can be neglected. However, all the parameters should be in the typical range. Varying all parameters that might have an influence would cause the effort to become unmanageable in size. A general problem is that the behavior of the material is strongly dependant on the combination of both gear materials. In principal, all combinations should be treated individually. This is usually not possible. For the VDI 2545, all measurements were done against a steel gear. For the interpretation of the results, the fact that steel was one of the gears has to be taken into account.
different from what is known from other materials, so all assumptions have to be done carefully. For the determination of the load for the tests, a first test should be done with an intermediate value: Based on a first calculation with a data set for a similar material (as similar as possible, if nothing else is available use the data from the VDI 2545) a torque level is determined that leads to a test time of some hours, two days maximum. A very high load often leads to failures which are not well defined, and the time until failure might be hard to determine. One limit that should be avoided in the beginning is the failure mode by melting teeth. On the other hand, a low load would lead to a very long test time (for instance 108 load cycles mean one or two months of measurement). Although these tests have to be carried out anyway to get a full Whler curve, it is better to postpone this long running test until the end of the test program. Often during the first few tests some assumptions will be proven to be too far off from reality, and the test procedure has to be modified. Usually all the tests have to be repeated. When the test results are approximately 106 load cycles, the load is increased with a factor of for instance 1.5 and the next test is run. This is done until the gear fails within less then 104 load cycles. Later, tests with a reduced torque, for instance by dividing the first torque value by 1.5, are carried out, reducing the load until the wear is so small, that due to the uncertainties of the measurement, the progress of the wear can not be measured any more (or the budget for the tests is exceeded).
Floating diagram for the evaluation of the test results for wear
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Figure 10: Floating diagram for the measurement wear and the interpretation of the results
Conclusion
Sizing and rating plastic gears is not a simple task, mainly due to two reasons: first the available literature is poor compared to the level for metal gears and second for the only available method, the VDI2545, there is a severe lack of current data for material properties. To supersede the problems the engineer has to apply the calculation method in a careful way. Often material properties have to be measured. Following the guidelines presented in this paper leads to acceptable results.
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Acknowledgements
The author would like to acknowledge the companies Victrex and Scholz for the data and pictures provided. Furthermore the author wants to thank Dr. Ulrich Kissling, KISSsoft AG and Dan Kondritz, KISSsoft, USA, LLC for their contribution to this paper.
References
[1] VDI 2545, Zahnrder aus thermoplastischen Kunststoffen, 1981. [2] Gunter Erhard, Konstruieren mit Kunststoffen, 2nd edition, Carl Hanser, 1999 [3] Siedke, E: Tragfhigkeitsuntersuchung an ungeschmierten Zahnrdern aus thermoplastischen Kunststoffen, Diss. TU Berlin, 1977 [4] Takanashi, S. and A. Shoji: On the Temperature Risc in the Teeth of Plastic Gears, International Power Transmission & Gearing Conference, San Francisco, 1980 [5] Hachmann H. and E. Strickle: Polyamide als Zahnradwerkstoffe, Konstruktion 18 (1966) 3, S. 81-94 [6] Erhard G. and Ch. Weiss: Zur Berechnung der Zahn- und Flankentemperatur von Zahnrdern aus Polymerwerkstoffen, Konstruktion 39 (1987) 11 S. 423-430 [7] Niemann G.: Maschinenelemente, Band 2. Springer Verlag Berlin, 1983 [8] Obsieger: Zahnformfaktoren von Aussen- und Innenverzahnungen. Konstruktion 32 (1980), S. 443-447.
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