Modal Analysis of Hybrid ‘Steel–Composite’ Disc of the Indexing Gearbox Turret Follower

The indexing gearbox is used in dynamic applications.To improve its dynamic performance, the hybrid indexing gearbox turret follower disc consisting of a composite body with the steel inserts for pins and a steel shaft flange has been introduced.Such a hybrid disc composite body is made of long-fiber epoxy composite using fiber in place (FIP) technology.That allows integration of inserts into the part during the lamination process.Newly designed hybrid discs have undergone modal analysis in this work to determine their natural frequencies and assess their dependency on composite fiber volume ratio.Results of modal analysis show that 35 % of fiber volume ratio is the limiting value under which natural frequencies of FIP hybrid disc are lower than frequencies of steel disc.The first two modes have similar frequencies which can lead to their superposition.Typical values of 50 % of fiber volume ratio FIP composite shows 11 % increase of frequencies in comparison with steel disc and these frequency values are out of operating frequency range.FIP technology is suitable for hybrid "steel-composite" disc in turret follower application as it contributes to improvement of dynamic performance of the mechanism or its individual parts.