Effect of unbalanced parameters on the fatigue behavior of transmission shaft in gearbox

The rotating shafts in gearboxes operate at various speeds and loads, which can lead to fatigue failure. One of the fundamental causes of damage is vibration due to unbalance, misalignment, or non-uniformity during rotation, which have a detrimental effect on fatigue strength. In this study, the influence of unbalance parameters on the high cycle fatigue behavior of AISI 1045 steel drive shafts was investigated. A completely new fatigue testing equipment is proposed and fully fabricated to examine the factors such as eccentricity due to test mass assignment, operating speed and loading radius affecting fatigue strength of AISI 1045 steel. The results show that the fatigue strength of the unbalanced specimen is lower than that of the pure bending specimen.