A computational model for analysing the wear behaviour of polymer gears

In the presented study, a computational model was developed to analyse the wear behaviour of contacting mechanical elements like gears, bearings, etc. The model was built in the framework of the PrePoMax open-source CalculiX FEM (Finite Element Method) solver and enables a detailed analysis of the meshing dynamics of contacting mechanical elements. The model also considers the hyperelastic behaviour of the material in contact and the impact of operating temperature. The developed computational model was evaluated on a spur gear pair, where the pinion made of POM (Polyoxymethylene) was meshed with a support gear made of case-hardened steel 16MnCr5. The computational results were compared with the analytical results according to the VDI 2736 guidelines and experimental results on the real gear pairs. Compared to the standardised procedure according to the VDI 2736 guidelines, the model's main advantage is the geometry updating after a chosen number of loading cycles, enabling a more accurate prediction of wear behaviour under rolling/sliding loading conditions. • A computational model was developed to determine the wear behaviour of rolling/sliding contacting mechanical elements. • The PrePoMax open-source software was used to build the proposed model. • The developed computational model was evaluated on the steel/POM spur gear pair. • The obtained computational results were compared with the experimental results. • The main advantage of the proposed model is the geometry updating after a chosen number of loading cycles.