Driving Performance of Natural Fiber Gears Made Only from Bamboo Fibers Extracted with a Machining Center

Abstract

Plastic gears are light and can be used without any lubricant, but they have low strength and an adverse effect on the environment. Therefore, a new gear that maintains these advantages while mitigating the disadvantages has been proposed. The development of sustainable and reproducible natural materials is desired to address these environmental problems. Therefore, in this study, a method was devised to extract high-quality and precise bamboo fibers using a machining center. Then, the hot press method was used to produce a novel spur gear made from only bamboo fibers, which is a green and organic machine element with a complicated shape. The present paper describes the characteristics of the proposed bamboo fiber gears, considering experimental results, including the hot press molding conditions, and the influence of fiber length on tooth bending strength, root strain, and vibration due to meshing teeth.