NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE EFFECT OF TOOTH NUMBER ON THE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF NATURAL FIBER COMPOSITE GEARS: THE CASE OF HDPE 40B (HDPE 40B: HIGH DENSITY POLYETHYLENE WITH 40% BIRCH FIBER)

The purpose of this study is to analyze stresses and deformations using a numerical simulation of the effect of the tooth number on gears made from a new composite material, HDPE40B. After presenting the methodology used to obtain the gears 3D model, up to the application of loads to determine stresses and deformations, the influence of tooth geometric characteristics and operating conditions on the distribution of stresses and deformations in these gears induced by the loads, was studied as a function of gear tooth wear. The main observation in this study is that increasing the number of teeth leads to a reduction in stress due to the decrease in the normal loads carried by the gear teeth.