Quasi-static load sharing model in the case of Nylon 6/6 cylindrical gears

This paper presents a fast and efficient computational method to predict the mechanical behaviour of plastic cylindrical gears made of polymeric material. The approach developed here takes into account the viscoelastic properties of the materials that are sensitive to temperature and rotational speed, under the assumption that the material is stressed in its linear domain (assumption of low stress). The method described is performed in two steps: The first consists in using a rheological model to simulate the viscoelastic behaviour of the material. The second part consists in calculating the load sharing with local meshing that integrates the viscoelastic model over the entire surface of the tooth. This model permits computing the meshing stiffness and the loaded transmission error and was developed for a gear made of Polyamide 6.6 material. A solution to take humidity sensitivity into account is also introduced.