High cycle fatigue behaviour of autoclave-cured woven carbon fibre-reinforced polymer composite gears

Damijan Zorko,Jože Tavčar,Milan Bizjak,Roman Šturm,Zoran Bergant

doi:10.1016/j.polymertesting.2021.107339

Damijan Zorko, Jože Tavčar + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2021.107339

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Journal: Polymer Testing	Publication Date: Sep 9, 2021
Citations: 22	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: University of Ljubljana, Lund University

Abstract

The high cycle fatigue behaviour of autoclave-cured carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite gears is investigated. The CFRP gears were milled from a composite plate and tested in mesh with a steel drive gear under five torque loads ranging between 0.4 and 0.8 Nm in unlubricated conditions. A detailed gear damage analysis is conducted by employing scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution optical microscopy. Epoxy matrix microcracking is found to be the damage mechanism that leads to the final delamination failure. CFRP gears exhibited a significantly improved performance and a longer fatigue lifespan in comparison with the polymer and polymer composite gears.

Highlights

The use of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite materials is increasing due to their high strength, excellent strength-toweight ratio and corrosion resistance
The specific load conditions result in a complex stress state in the tested CFRP gear
A six-times longer lifespan was observed for the CFRP gears when compared to the results reported for the PEEK gears, which were loaded with the same specific load per gear width

Summary

Introduction

The use of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite materials is increasing due to their high strength, excellent strength-toweight ratio and corrosion resistance. The mechanical properties of fibre-reinforced polymer composites depend to a large extent on the strength of their fibres and the matrix, as well as the adhesion between the two. The use of composite materials is expanding into dynamically loaded applications, including bearings [13,14] and gear transmissions, where cyclic loads and severe operating environments lead to fatigue and wear. The performance of woven CFRP gears is important to investigate due to their high potential to further increase the load bearing capacity and wear resistance compared to short fibre-reinforced polymer gears. Future research will expand the range of their potential applications in order to fill the large gap between metal and polymer gears

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