Failure analysis of nylon gears made by additive manufacturing. (July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Muminovic, Adis J.; Pervan, Nedim; Delic, Muamer; Muratovic, Enis; Mesic, Elmedin; Braut, Sanjin
• Is Part Of: Engineering failure analysis. Volume 137(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-07
• Subjects: Gears -- Failure analysis -- Nylon -- Additive manufacturing -- Infill percentage; System failures (Engineering) -- Periodicals; Fracture mechanics -- Periodicals; Reliability (Engineering) -- Periodicals; Pannes -- Périodiques; Rupture, Mécanique de la -- Périodiques; Fiabilité -- Périodiques; Fracture mechanics; Reliability (Engineering); System failures (Engineering); Periodicals; Electronic journals; 620.112
• DOI: 10.1016/j.engfailanal.2022.106272
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1350-6307

Abstract

Highlights: Production of polymer gears are slowly transferred from injection moulding and machining to additive manufactured gears. For low amount of infill structure special focus of gears design needs to be addressed to the type of connection between gear body and shaft. In this case critical places on gears are not on the tooth, they are inside a gear body. Effect of infill structure on nylon gears made by additive manufacturing is not significant in the case of high torque load where amount of infill structure is more than 60%. Future testing is needed to collect more amount of data to achieve better statistical correlation between infill structure and service life. Abstract: Additive manufacturing enables fast manufacturing of polymer gears directly from a 3D model. Failed polymer gears can be replaced easily and quickly using many different materials. Mechanical and thermal characteristic of gears manufactured using additive manufacturing are mostly dependent on selected manufacturing parameters and material. In this research, the influence of the most important manufacturing parameter (infill percentage) on failure types and service life of additive manufactured nylon gears is experimentally investigated. The experimental tests were carried out using a custom-made gear testing device. Samples with 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% of infill volume were tested. Infill type, shell thickness, and manufacturing speed were the same for all samples. Service life of gears was tested and failure types were characterized.