Wear Characterization of Carbon Nanotubes Reinforced Polymer Gears

Abstract

In last decade, polymeric gears have found wide applications in industrial fields. This is due to their advantages like noise reduction, self-lubricating features, weight reduction, cost savings as well as lower tribological characteristics in term of friction and wear. The main objective of this paper is to study the wear behavior of spur gears that makes polymer blended by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) (acetal). This was made by using appropriate adhesive oil (Paraffin) during injection moulding practice to produce thick flanges with diameter 134 mm and thickness 29 mm. The CNTs were produced by a fully automatic system using arc-discharge technique multi-electrodes. The synthesizing CNT/acetal flanges contain 1% CNTs by weight. The flanges were machined using CNC milling machine to produce spur gears. The dispersion of CNTs in polymer were examined by scanning electron microscope. The experiments were performed at a running speed of 1420 r/min and at torques of 13 and 16 N·m. In addition, the mechanical properties of CNT/acetal have been tested. The results showed that the wear resistances of the CNTs/acetal spur gears increased with the addition of CNT. The strength, Young's modulus and stiffness also increased while the hardness was not affected by the addition of CNT.