A Computational Model for Analysing the Dry Rolling/Sliding Wear Behaviour of Polymer Gears Made of POM

This study presents a computational model to determine the wear behaviour of polymer gears. Using PrePoMax finite element numerical calculation software, a proposed computational model was built to predict dry rolling/sliding wear behaviour based on Archard's wear model. This allows the calculation of the wear depth in each loading cycle with constant mesh updating using the finite element method. The developed computational model has been evaluated on a spur gear pair, where the pinion made of POM was meshed with a support gear made of steel. The computational results obtained were compared with the analytical results according to the VDI 2736 guidelines. Based on this comparison, it was concluded that the proposed computational model could be used to simulate the wear behaviour of contacting mechanical elements like gears, bearings, etc. The main advantage of the model, if compared to the standardised procedure according to the VDI 2736 guidelines, is the geometry updating after a chosen number of loading cycles, which enables a more accurate prediction of wear behaviour under rolling/sliding loading conditions.