A new method for testing polymer gear wear rate and performance

This paper provides details of a new test rig design and methodology intended for, and successfully applied to, measuring the gear wear rate and performance of polymer composite gears under both dry and lubricated conditions. One of its unique contributions is that it continuously measures the gear wear rate, a feature essential for understanding polymer gear behaviour. While sharing some concepts with the traditional back-to-back test configuration used for steel gears, the new method introduces a rotary freedom to the block supporting the polymer gears under test. This block rotates if the gear tooth thickness is reduced, which aids control of the test load. The gear surface wear rate is recorded continuously by using a capacitance transducer to measure the pivot block motion. A second unique contribution of the new test method involves splitting the support block so that controlled misaligned gear engagements (not reported in other designs) can be introduced and subsequent changes to wear behaviour studied. The paper first outlines the test rig concepts and design before discussing in more detail the gear wear rate measuring principles, the methods of centre distance adjustment and the achievement of virtually constant gear loading. Finally, a selection test results are presented in summary to further validate the new test method and illustrate potential applications.