Chapter 3.

36: Plastic Spur Gear Pair Failure

3.36 Plastic Spur Gear Pair Failure


Summary 2

Chapter Overview 3
 Gear Geometry 3

Material Modeling 4

Contact 5
 Failure Criteria 5

Experimental Test Machine 10
 Results & Conclusions 12
 Modeling Tips 13
 Input Files 13

References 13
 Animation 14
3.36-2 Marc User’s Guide
Summary

Summary

Title Plastic Spur Gear Pair Failure

Problem features • Acetal copolymer gears in contact
• UACTIVE user subroutine deactivates failed elements
Geometry 2.026 in

Material Properties Elastic-plastic

Analysis type Quasi-static analysis
Boundary conditions Rigid bodies inside shaft holes hold one gear fixed and rotate the other.
Element type 4-node plane strain element type 11 with variable thickness
FE results Predicted torque versus twist compared to experimental values.

120 Equivalent Von Mises Stress

4500.00

4044.65

3589.30

100 3133.95

2678.60 1

Inc: 128
2223.26
Torque (in-lbf)

1767.91

80 1312.56

857.21

401.86 1

Inc: 112
-53.49

60

1 Inc: 140
Inc: 79
40 0

Experimental
20 Prediction
1

Inc: 57

Twist (Radians)
0
0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10
 CHAPTER 3.36 3.36-3
Plastic Spur Gear Pair Failure

Chapter Overview
An elastic-plastic finite element analysis of the quasi-static loading of two acetal copolymer gears in
contact is preformed. Torque verses twist of the gear set is compared to actual experimental results. The
gear geometry is modeled by plane strain elements with variable thickness between the rim and web.
Gear tooth failure is modeled by deactivating elements when the plastic strain of 0.15 is exceeded in the
tensile regions.

Gear Geometry
Two acetal copolymer spur gears were selected as test specimens. The geometry of the gear teeth was
based on the American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) standard: Tooth proportions for
Plastic Gears (Reference 36-1). The entire gear pair is modeled to capture the correct torsional stiffness
of the gear pair. The specifications for the test gears used are provided in the table below.

Basic Specification Data

Number of Teeth 40
Diametric pitch 20
Standard pressure angle (degrees) 20
Tooth form AGMA PT1
Standard addendum (inch) .0500
Standard whole depth (inch) .1120
Circular thickness on standard pitch circle (inch) .250

Basic Rack Data

Flank angle (degrees) 20
Tip to reference line (inch) .0665
Tooth thickness at reference line (inch) .250
Tip radius (inch) .0214

The test gears were assembled at a center distance of 2.0620 inches. This gave a nominal backlash of
0.0320 inches. This relative large backlash permitted the test gears to reach relatively high torque levels
without having the gear teeth roll back on each other, thereby making contact on the backside of the
adjacent tooth. An illustration of the gear model (mesh lines included) assembly is shown in
Figure 3.36-1. The rim of the gear teeth is 0.25 inch (geom1) in thickness and the web thickness (geom2
and geom3) is 0.123.
3.36-4 Marc User’s Guide
Material Modeling

geom1
Y
geom2
Z X
geom3

Figure 3.36-1 Geometry and Mesh

Material Modeling
The material is modeled as elastic-plastic with Young’s modulus of 3.0x105 psi with an initial yield
strength of 2500 psi. The Cauchy stress versus true plastic strain curve is shown in Figure 3.36-2.

5000 Cauchy Stress (psi)

4000

3000

True Plastic Strain

2000
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20

Figure 3.36-2 Material Behavior

 CHAPTER 3.36 3.36-5
Plastic Spur Gear Pair Failure

Contact
The contact bodies are shown in Figure 3.36-3 and two circular rigid bodies, drive1 and drive2, are glued
to each gear, gear1 and gear2, respectively. Contact body drive1 rotates about the center of the gear while
drive2 remains stationary. Two other rigid bodies (drive1out and drive2out) move just like drive1 and
drive2, but are non-contacting rigid bodies via contact table. They appear on the post file to visualize
where the teeth would be if they were rigid. Since kinematics for the design of a gear set assumes the
gears to be rigid; it is convenient to see where the teeth would be if the gear material was rigid.
drive1

gear1

gear1
gear2

drive1

drive2 drive2out drive1out

drive1out

drive2out
gear2

Z X

drive2

Figure 3.36-3 Contact bodies

Failure Criteria
Two user routines are used, PLOTV, captures the total equivalent plastic strain and the mean stress and
determines the elements to be deactivated when the mean stress is tensile (> 1000) and the plastic strain
exceeds 15%. Subroutine ACTIVE, uses the information from PLOTV to actually deactivate the
elements selected. The deactivated elements no longer participate in the analysis. The routines are listed
below.

subroutine plotv(v,s,sp,etot,eplas,ecreep,t,m,nn,layer,ndi,
* nshear,jpltcd)
c* * * * * *
c define a variable for contour plotting (user subroutine).
c v variable to be put onto the post file
c s (idss) stress array
c sp stresses in preferred direction
c etot total strain (generalized)
c eplas total plastic strain
3.36-6 Marc User’s Guide
Failure Criteria

c ecreep total creep strain

c t array of state variable (temperature first)
c m(1) user element number
c m(2) internal element number
c m(3) material id
c m(4) internal material id
c nn integration point number
c layer(1) layer number
c layer(2) internal layer number
c ndi number of direct stress components
c nshear number of shear stress components
c jpltcd the absolute value of the user's entered post code
c* * * * * *
implicit real*8 (a-h,o-z)
common /mydata/ ielem(30000)
dimension s(*),etot(*),eplas(*),ecreep(*),sp(*)
dimension m(2),layer(2),t(2)
kc=1
call elmvar(18,m(1),nn,kc,v)
call elmvar( 7,m(1),nn,kc,ve)
if(nn.eq.1.and.ielem(m(1)).ne.1) ielem(m(1)) = 0
if(v.ge.1.0d3.and.ve.ge.0.15d0 ) ielem(m(1)) = 1
return
end
subroutine uactive(m,n,mode,irststr,irststn,inc,time,timinc)
c* * * * * *
c user routine to activate or deactivate an element
c
c m(1) - user element number
c m(2) - master element number for local adaptivity
c n - internal elsto number
c mode(1)=-1 - deactivate element, remove element from post file
c mode(1)=-11 - deactivate element, keep element on post file
c mode(1)=2 - leave in current status
c mode(1)=1 - activate element and add element to post file
c mode(1)=11 - activate element and keep status on post file
c mode(2)=1 - only activate/deactivate mechanical of coupled
c mode(2)=2 - only activate/deactivate thermal part of coupled
c mode(3)=0 - activation/deactivation at the end of increment
c mode(3)=1 - activation/deactivation at the beg. of increment
c irststr - reset stresses to zero
c irststn - reset strains to zero
c inc - increment number
c time - time at beginning of increment
c timinc - incremental time
 CHAPTER 3.36 3.36-7
Plastic Spur Gear Pair Failure

c* * * * * *
implicit real*8 (a-h,o-z)
common /mydata/ ielem(30000)
dimension m(2),mode(3)
ie=m(1)
if(ielem(ie).eq.1.and.mode(1).ne.-1) then
mode(1)=-1
write(96,*) 'deactivating element ', ie, ' increment ', inc
else
mode(1)=2
end if
return
end
3.36-8 Marc User’s Guide
Model Review

Model Review
The model is complete and ready to run, however, we shall review the contact table option used to glue
the rigid bodies drive1 and drive2 onto gear1 and gear2 respectively, while making rigid bodies
drive1out and drive2out non-contacting. Then we shall submit the results and check the results as they
are generated.
FILES
OPEN
gearpair.mud
OK
MAIN
CONTACT
CONTACT TABLES
PROPERTIES

MAIN
JOBS
RUN
SUBMIT
OPEN POST FILE (RESULTS MENU)
DEF ONLY
SKIP TO INC 57
SCALAR (Equivalent von Mises Stress)
CONTOUR BANDS
 CHAPTER 3.36 3.36-9
Plastic Spur Gear Pair Failure

As expected the gears become engaged and deform as shown in Figure 3.36-4. The non-contacting rigid
bodies, drive1out and drive2out, are shown as green lines representing rigid gear motion making tooth
deformation easy to visualize.
Inc: 57
Time: 2.467e+000

4500.00

4044.65

3589.30

3133.95

2678.60

2223.26

1767.91

1312.56

857.21

401.86

-53.49
Y

Z X
1

lcase2
Equivalent Von Mises Stress

Figure 3.36-4 Contour Equivalent von Mises Stress at Increment 57

Another important plot is the torque versus twist which can be generated by using the history plot feature
as:
HISTORY PLOT job1
Moment Z drive1 (x100)
COLLECT GLOBAL DATA 0
0
NODES/VARABLES
ADD GLOBAL CURVE
Angle Pos drive1 10

Moment Z drive1
20
The first load case brings the gears into contact
at the end of increment 1 and this is seen here. 30
Using the copy to clipboard the history data
40
can be exported to say Excel and the data
50
manipulated and compared to experimental 60
results as see in Figure 3.36-7. 70
80

90
100
110 120 130
-1.048
0 8.333
Angle Pos drive1 (x.01)
3.36-10 Marc User’s Guide
Experimental Test Machine

Experimental Test Machine

A parallel axis gear-testing machine developed by Ticona (www.ticona.com) was used to load and
record the load-displacement response of the gears (Figure 3.36-5).

Figure 3.36-5 Parallel axis gear-testing machine

The test gears were lubricated with oil prior to loading to eliminate any shearing forces acting on the
tooth flanks that were in contact. Torque was measured on the stationary side and load was applied on
the motor side. Two high precision encoders were used to measure the angular displacement of both
gears. These encoders have a positional accuracy of 57600 counts per revolution. The rate of loading
was set by the time for encoder position on the motor side. The stationary was not totally rigid. It
required some angular displacement for the torquemeter to record data. To obtain the true angular
displacement, the relative displacement between both gears was recorded. This gave a rate for the
relative angular displacement between the motor gear and stationary gear to be about 0.002 radians per
minute. Five tests were made per gear set at ambient conditions. A plot of applied torques verses
relative displacement was recorded. The results are shown in Figure 3.36-6. Test 2 and Test 4 did not
reach tooth failure. This is due to that Test 4 was not taken up to the breaking torque and Test 2 reached
 CHAPTER 3.36 3.36-11
Plastic Spur Gear Pair Failure

the set limited encoder position before breaking.

Static Mesh Bending on Acetal Copolymer Gears
140

120

100

Te st 1
80
Torque (in -lb)

Te st 2
Te st 3
Te st 4
60
Te st 5

40

20

0
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
Radians

Figure 3.36-6 Plot of Experimental Results

3.36-12 Marc User’s Guide
Results & Conclusions

Results & Conclusions

A plot of applied torque verses twist was made and gives excellent representation of the experimental
results (Figure 3.36-7). At the beginning, a two teeth pair (on each gear) come into contact, then as
these teeth bend, the tooth leading this pair begins to come into contact (Figure 3.36-7 Inc: 79). Later
(Figure 3.36-7 Inc: 112) there are four teeth on each gear in contact with their counterparts. At
increment 112, the first element is deactivated (leading tooth on top moving gear) followed by several
more shown in increment 128. After increment 128, elements begin to fail in the stationary gear and the
torque drops off dramatically. Based on the results of this analysis, the mechanical behavior and
prediction of copolymer acetal gears is very complex. The results indicate that to optimize a gear set, a
non-linear analysis is required to be performed. Only under low loads and deformation can a linear
elastic approach be suitable. Clearly combining computer simulations with material and component
testing has led to a far better understanding of copolymer acetal gear design; this understanding could
not be achieved by either simulation or testing alone. It is envisioned that with a few more material
tests, the torque-displacement response of the gear pair can be simulated with confidence thus
advancing the technology of copolymer acetal gear applications.

120 Equivalent Von Mises Stress

4500.00

4044.65

3589.30

100 3133.95

2678.60 1

Inc: 128
2223.26
Torque (in-lbf)

1767.91

80 1312.56

857.21

401.86 1

Inc: 112
-53.49

60

1 Inc: 140
Inc: 79
40 0

Experimental
20 Prediction
1

Inc: 57

Twist (Radians)
0
0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10
Figure 3.36-7 Predictions versus experimental results of torque versus twist of the gear pair
 CHAPTER 3.36 3.36-13
Plastic Spur Gear Pair Failure

Modeling Tips
The material used was Celcon grade M90 Fig 3.1 · Celcon acetal copolymer stress-strain
(Toughened; Impact Modified) which is the red properties (ISO 527)
curve taken from Reference 36-2, Figure 3.1
duplicated herein. It was assumed that this stress
strain data was in engineering measures of stress 120
and strain (s, e) and they needed to be converted
100 25% Glass Coupled
to true values, (   ) where the Cauchy stress
80
becomes,  = s  1 + e  and the true strain

Stress, MPa
Unfilled, 9.0 Melt Flow
becomes,  = ln  1 + e  . The work hardening 60
plot (Figure 3.36-2) then becomes the Cauchy 40
stress versus the total plastic Toughened; Impact Modified
20
strain,  p =  –   E .
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Strain, %

Input Files

File Description
gearpair.mud Mentat model file
gearpair_job1.dat Marc input file
gearpair.f User subroutine to define invoke failure criterion

References
36-1. American National Standard/AGMA Standard, Tooth Proportions for Plastic Gears, ANSI/AGMA
1006-A97, 1997.
36-2. Designing with Celcon http://www.kmsbearings.com/pdf/Celcon_Design%20Guide_3.9.07.pdf
3.36-14 Marc User’s Guide
Animation

Animation
Click on the figure below to play the animation.