The wear behavior and service life of Madar and Bauhinia Racemosa reinforced polyester hybrid composites for gear applications

Abstract

Abstract In order to investigate the wear behavior and service life of Madar and Bauhinia Racemosa fibers reinforced polyester, the composite gears were fabricated with varying the fiber weight percentages of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. This paper examines the rolling and sliding of the composite gears running against nylon gear with a simplified method of analysing and understanding the wear rate and tooth damage. Tests were conducted without external lubrication over a range of loads using a gear test rig. The test results of composite gears are compared with unreinforced polyester gear (URPE). The extremely interesting investigation from the experimental work is the drastically different wear behavior when running composite gears against nylon gears, specifically the low wear rate when compared with URPE. It was found that the surface temperature was the primary factor affecting the wear rate and an initial relationship between gear surface temperature and load capacity.