Influence of Metal Foam Properties on Performance of Polymer Composite Spur Gear

Abstract

The present study aims at developing light weight polymer composite spur gear and improving the performance. Various types of reinforcements and fillers have been used in the polymer gears in order to enhance the performance. There is some evidence in the literature that the metal foamsexhibit significant mechanical properties. The idea here is to use metal foam as a reinforcement material in polymer spur gear and to investigate the performance. The main objective of the present study is to investigate the influence of metal foam properties on the performance of polymer composite spur gear. Two part epoxy adhesive was used to fabricate spur gears. Two different metal foamslike aluminium and nickel with different porosity levels were used in order to have different properties of foams. The epoxy adhesive mixture was cast on the metal foam sheet, and gears were cut by abrasive water jet cutting process after curing of adhesive. The reinforced and unreinforced polymer gears were tested by an indigenously developed gear test rig with standard gear made of mild steel. The testing was carried out at different torque levels and at a constant speed, and the number of cycles was monitored. In the results, the metal foam reinforced gears show better performance than unreinforced polymer gear. In the case of polymer composite gear, nickel foam which has larger tensile strength, flexural strength and smaller porosity level shows better performance comparatively.It is concluded that choosing metal foam with better strength and smaller porosity help us improve the performance of the polymer composite gears.