Study on the coupling relationship between wear and dynamics under steady uniform temperature field of planetary gear system

Wear of tooth profiles and thermal deformation caused by temperature changes are difficult to avoid in gear systems and have important effects on the performance, even to failure. In this paper, a dynamic wear prediction model with coupled thermal deformation and wear is proposed to study the interaction between wear and dynamics of planetary gear system under temperature field, accounting for the effect of temperature on material properties. The system’s performance under different wear cycles and temperatures is analyzed. The results show that the difference in the structure makes the curve shape of the thermal deformation error for the external and internal gear pairs completely different, which in turn affects the dynamic response. The distribution and the degree of fluctuation of tooth profile wear depth change as the mesh cycle increases. The early wear is beneficial to the system’s uniform load performance and vibration, and the performance decreases as the wear increases, but the external and internal gear pairs are affected by wear to a different extent. The thermal deformation and wear errors have competing or facilitating mechanisms depending on the temperature difference and the degree of wear.