Abstract
Polymer gears are used extensively in various applications. However, durability issues have been emerging because of friction at gear tooth contact areas. To extend the lifetime of polymer gears, a low-frictional coating has been considered as a possible strategy. In this study, a finite element simulation method was performed to investigate the contact stress between a pair of coated polymer gears. The simulation included various friction coefficients (COFs) for studying the effects of friction during the operation. Numerical results revealed that the friction causes the contact stress to shift over the roll angle, which is attributed to the direction of the sliding friction based on a free-body diagram. We also investigated the effects of coating and found that a thin coating has little effect on the bulk deformation behavior of the gear. Moreover, the stress distribution in the coating at the pitch point was investigated as the COF increased. Under zero friction, three notable stress regions were observed: 1) the center of the surface, 2) the end of the contact, and 3) the overall contact area. As COF was increased in the micro-slip region of the contact interface, both tensile and compressive stresses in the coating increased. This study provides significant aid to engineers for understanding the stress response of the coating applied to polymer gears to achieve an optimal design.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea Government (MSIT) (No. 2019R1H1A2039657).
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Su-Min BAE. He received his B.S. degree in mechanical and automotive engineering from Keimyung University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, in 2016. After then, he joined the Center for Nano Wear (CNW) and obtained his M.S. degree from Yonsei University in 2019. His research interests include tribology, polymeric materials, diamond-like carbon, and finite element simulation.
Kuk-Jin SEO. He received his B.S. degree in the Department of Mechanical Engineering from Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, in 2014. Currently, he is a Ph.D. candidate at the same university. His research interests include nanostructured and multi-layer coating with experimental and computational studies.
Dae-Eun KIM. He is a professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering at Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Prof. KIM received his B.S. from Tufts University, and M.S. and Ph.D. from Massachu-setts Institute of Technology. He was an assistant professor at the Ohio State University before joining Yonsei University in 1993. Prof. KIM is currently the president of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering, vice president of the International Tribology Council, and vice president of the Asian Tribology Council. He has also served as the president of the Korean Tribology Society, Chair of the Tribology Technical Committee of IFToMM, editor-in-chief of IJPEM, senior editor of JMST, and associate editor of ASME J. of Tribology. Prof. KIM currently serves in the editorial board of Tribology Letter, Advances in Tribology, Friction, Frontiers in mechanical engineering, IJPEM-GT, and Tribology Online. Prof. KIM’s research interests are tribology, coatings, and micro-fabrication.
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Bae, SM., Seo, KJ. & Kim, DE. Effect of friction on the contact stress of a coated polymer gear. Friction 8, 1169–1177 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-020-0363-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-020-0363-6