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The effect of center distance error on the service life of polymer gears

Article in Polymer Testing · April 2023

DOI: 10.1016/j.polymertesting.2023.108033

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 Polymer Testing 123 (2023) 108033

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Polymer Testing
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/polytest

The effect of center distance error on the service life of polymer gears
Damijan Zorko a, *, Jan Štiglic b, Borut Černe a, Nikola Vukašinović a, **
a
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Aškerčeva 6, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
b
BSH House Appliances, d.o.o., Savinjska cesta 30, 3331, Nazarje, Slovenia

A B S T R A C T

Gear assembly errors are an important contributor to a premature gearbox failure. This study investigates the effects of center distance deviation on polymer gearbox
life. The main focus was on the influence on the stress state of the gear. Reference spur gears (m = 1 mm, z = 20, b = 6 mm) with a standard involute gear profile and
a gear ratio of 1 (same pinion and gear) were studied. A combination of numerical and experimental methods was used to obtain the best insight into the gear
meshing process. Simulations of the gear meshing process were performed using a verified finite element analysis model. Torques of 0.8 Nm and 1.0 Nm were applied
and gear meshing was simulated at center distances of 20.00 mm, 20.05 mm, and 20.10 mm. It was found that, as the center distance increased, the contact ratio
decreased, which consequently leads to an increase in tooth root stress. Experimental gears tests were additionally conducted on a dedicated gear testing machine.
The gears were tested under the same conditions previously simulated using the FEM model. Steel/PA6 gear pairs were tested, with at least three test repetitions for
each combination of load and center distance. A significant reduction in gear service life of more than 30% was identified for larger center distances, while no
pronounced effects on operating temperature were observed.

consumption of polymer materials [4]. Mass production is also a lot

cheaper if gears are manufactured by injection molding. While the
1. Introduction
load-bearing capacity is extremely important, several studies can be
found on improving this property either with improved gear design [5,
Applications with polymer gears are rapidly increasing. Reasons for
6] or improved materials [7–9]. In the past decades, polymer gears were
this can be found in some of their advantages over metal gears and a
mostly used for motion transmission, however with the development of
continuously growing demand for high-performance lightweight com­
better materials and growing demands towards weight reduction they
ponents. Polymer gears often don’t require additional lubrication for
are increasingly being used in power transmission applications. With the
their operation. This opens new applications opportunities where
ever-increasing requirements also the usage of high-performance engi­
lubricant is not desired or hard to apply. They dampen vibrations better
neering polymers, e.g. PEEK family polymers [10,11] is increasing.
and exhibit better noise, vibrations and harshness behavior [1]. Proper
Various compounds with reinforcing fibers and fillers can be used to
selection of polymers enables operation of polymer gears in various
enhance their mechanical properties, increase wear resistance, and
harsh environments because many polymers are resistant to corrosion
reduce friction [12,13]. Due to the increasing use of polymer gears and
and other chemical influences. Compared to steel gears, they also exhibit
the impact of fossil-based polymers on the environment, the possibilities
some disadvantages, the main ones being worse mechanical properties,
of using bio-polymers are also being explored [14,15].
poorer thermal conductivity, poorer thermal stability, and lower
In the past few years several studies have been presented dealing
manufacturing precision. Mass produced polymer gears are mostly made
with the topic of polymer gears. Hriberšek et al. [16,17] studied wear on
by injection molding, while smaller series and gears with larger modules
gears made of POM and PA. They have found that the best combination
are produced by cutting methods, e.g. hobbing or milling. With the
is when the drive gear is made of the POM and the driven gear of the PA.
recent advances in the 3D printing technology polymer gears in small
Senthilvelan and Gnanamoorthy [18–20] investigated damage mecha­
series can also be 3D printed [2,3], however the dimensional accuracy
nisms, the influence of rotational speed and the root fillet radius on the
and load bearing capacity of injection molded or cut gears is still not
performance of polymer and composite gears. Letzelter et al. [21,22]
met. Injection molding enables great design flexibility, where gears with
developed a dedicated gear test rig where they can accurately analyze
special tooth geometries and root modifications can be produced in
the heating sources of polymer gears. Okubo et al. [23] monitored
order to achieve a higher load bearing capacity, enabling a lower

* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: damijan.zorko@fs.uni-lj.si (D. Zorko), jan.stiglic1@gmail.com (J. Štiglic), borut.cerne@fs.uni-lj.si (B. Černe), nikola.vukasinovic@fs.uni-lj.si
(N. Vukašinović).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2023.108033
Received 5 February 2023; Received in revised form 2 April 2023; Accepted 20 April 2023
Available online 26 April 2023
0142-9418/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
D. Zorko et al. Polymer Testing 123 (2023) 108033

Nomenclature ZE elasticity factor

ZH zone factor
a mm center distance Zε contact ratio factor for flank pressure
b mm face width Zβ helix angle factor for flank pressure
di mm reference diameter n rpm rotational speed
dai mm tip diameter ϑRoot C root temperature
dbi mm base diameter ϑ0 C ambient temperature
dfi mm root diameter P W nominal output power
FT N tangential load M Nm torque
mn mm normal module μ coefficient of friction
mt mm radial module HV degree of tooth loss
αwt pressure angle of the radial profile on the kinematic 0,75
K•(ms) •mm1,75
kϑ,Root heat-transfer coefficient of the polymer gear
diameter W

αwt pressure angle of the radial profile vt m/s tangential velocity

εα contact ratio Rλ,G K • m2/W heat transfer resistance of the mechanism
σF MPa root stress housing
KA application factor AG m2 heat-dissipating surface of the mechanism housing
KV dynamic factor ED relative tooth-engagement time with respect to ten minutes
KFβ face load factor for tooth root stress A initial point of tooth contact
KFα transverse load factor for tooth root stress B lowest point of single tooth contact (LPSTC) for the drive
KF factor for tooth root load gear and highest point of single tooth contact (HPSTC) for
YFa form factor the driven gear
YSa stress correction factor (notch effect) C pitch point (kinematic point)
Yε contact ratio factor for root stress D highest point of single tooth contact (HPSTC) for the drive
Yβ helix angle factor for root stress gear and lowest point of single tooth contact (LPSTC) for
the driven gear
σH MPa flank pressure
E end point of tooth contact
KHβ face load factor for flank pressure
KHα transverse load factor for flank pressure

structural changes in a polyamide (PA) 66 gear during operation by
employing the ex-situ Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectros­
copy. Their study revealed that the crystallinity changed, amide related
bonds were broken, trans-gauche (TG) transformation occurred, and a
change in the inner stress condition of the PA66 gear occurred over time.
It was concluded that these changes interact with each other during
operation and are related to the failure of the PA66 gear. Düzcükoglu
[24] was looking into a possibility to increase the load-bearing capacity
of polymer involute gears with means of a variable tooth width. Kir­
upasankar et al. [25] tested the efficiency of PA6 gears and PA6 gears
with added nanoparticles of silicate hectorite clay. The gears with added
nanoparticles showed better efficiency, which was particularly evident
at a higher torque. Acoustic behavior of polymer gears was studied by
Hoskins et al. [26] where the authors investigated the effect of various
polymer gear materials and varying operating conditions on the sound
frequency spectrum. Surface roughness, wear and temperature, gener­
ated as a result of the interacting tooth flanks, were identified as the
impact parameters on the sound power level. Chakroun et al. [27]
considered polymer’s viscoelastic behavior in a steel/PA 66 meshing
stiffness study. A generalized Maxwell model was used to simulate
viscoelastic behavior of PA66 in a gear application. Authors found that
the gear mesh stiffness maximum and minimum values decrease over
time with a change in the shape of the signal. This is because the polymer
gear teeth do not have enough time to recover from the deformation
they undergo with each cycle. This is also the result of the softening
effect of the material over running time. Černe [28] came to the same
conclusions by using advanced experimental methods.
Polymer gears would likely be even more widely used, if there would
be standardized design and calculation methods and material data
available. To the best of our knowledge, there is no international stan­
dard, which would formalize calculation and design guidelines and
recommendations for polymer gears. On the other hand, there are some
national standards on this topic, e.g., BS 6168:1987 [29], and the Jap­
anese standard JIS B 1759:2013 [30]. The latter is based on the ISO
6336:2006 [31] with some modifications discussed in the work of
Moriwaki et al. [32]. Guidelines from various engineering associations
are also available. The VDI 2376:2014 [33], a successor of the VDI 2545
[34], was published in 2014 and is currently the most complete and
commonly used guideline for designing polymer gears. The guideline
provides evaluation methods for each of the most frequent polymer gear
failure modes. Material data for some basic materials, i.e. POM and PA
66 is also included. Available are also design guidelines issued by AGMA
[35,36]. These address only the potential materials and gear geometry
and fail to propose design models and deliver required material data for
design of polymer gears.
Various researchers, such as Bravo et al. [37] and Mao [38], have
described their polymer gears design approaches. However, they are
mostly case specific and their procedures too complicated to be gener­
alized for gear designing practice. The design of plastic gears has been
dealt with within several research groups. An integrated plastic gear
design optimization considering all possible failure modes was pre­
sented by Tavčar et al. [39]. Attempts were made to further introduce
machine learning algorithms into gear design [40,41]. Such methods
proved to be rather convenient for design evaluations of non-standard
gears. Nevertheless a large database of existing cases is required in
order to train these models. Tavčar et al. [13] presented a new accel­
erated polymer gear testing method, where torque on a gear pair is
increasing in steps. The methodology proves to be useful to determine
the critical load for a tested gear pair and to compare different materials
in a time-efficient manner. A similar study was conducted also by Lu
et al. [42]. A recent presentation of this method can be found in the
study of Mohsenzadeh et al. [43] where authors employed the method to
compare the performance of POM gear against different POM nano­
composite gears. Several researchers [44,45] have tried to simulate the
contact conditions encountered in meshing gears, with rolling and
relatively sliding cylinders (disc-on-disc test).
Lu et al. presented a model for predicting the service life of gears
made of POM according to the criterion of root strength [46] and

2
D. Zorko et al. Polymer Testing 123 (2023) 108033

according to the criterion of pitting [47]. Due to the short-term effect of are insensitive to center distance errors. The unique shape of the profile
the load acting on an individual tooth, the behavior of the material was of the involute tooth enables a constant transmission ratio and quiet,
described with a thermo-elasto-plastic constitutive model. Hook’s law steady running even when the gear pair operates at a smaller or larger
was used to describe the elastic part, and Johnson-Cook’s model [48] center distance than the theoretical one. However, when the gear pair
was used for the plastic part. The principal strain criterion was used to center distance is changed, the load distribution between the teeth
predict the tooth root fatigue life, and the Brown-Miller model [49] was changes as well. Therefore, the study focuses on the influence of the
used as the failure criterion for the contact fatigue. Hasl et al. [50] center distance error on the root stress. Temperature has a significant
proposed a method for calculating the tooth root stress of plastic gears effect on the mechanical properties of polymer materials, so the possible
meshing with steel pinions that considers the load-induced contact ratio influence of center distance errors on the operating temperature of the
increase. The tooth bending fatigue performance of asymmetric polymer polymer gear pair will be additionally investigated. To the best of the
gears was studied by Senthilvelan et al. [51,52]. Černe [53], Roda- authors’ knowledge, there has not been a systematic study where these
Casanova [54], and Fernandes [55] presented models for predicting the effects would be investigated and accordingly characterized. Findings of
operating temperature of plastic gears. The use of these this study supplement current gear design models and contribute to a
temperature-prediction models is however rather complex and requires more optimized design of polymer gears.
high-level numerical modelling and programming skills. Therefore in
practice usually a supplemented Hachmann-Strickle [56] model is used 2. Methodology
for gear temperature calculations, as this model is also proposed for the
gear temperature calculation by the VDI 2736 guideline. A review of The effect of the center distance error on the thermal and mechanical
analytic gear temperature calculations models is provided by state of polymer gears was studied by employing a systematic combi­
Roda-Casanova and Fernandes [57]. nation of analytical, numerical and experimental methods. Test gears
In mass-production polymer gears are usually made by injection were produced by injection molding and tested on a dedicated gear
molding. Their deformation during the cooling phase must be consid­ testing rig. The gear service life and operating temperature were
ered in their design, when employing this manufacturing technology measured using experimental means, while the stress state in the loaded
[58,59]. Tool design, tool production, process parameters, as well as the gear was determined by numerical simulations employing finite element
gear design, need to be properly addressed, in order to achieve a satis­ analysis (FEA), thus providing additional insight into the gear meshing
factory gear quality [60]. Simulation tools can nowadays predict process.
shrinkage and warpage very accurately. The first step of tool design
process is necessary to design the mold according the 2.1. Experimental work
simulation-predicted shrinkage. In several correction loops the mold is
then optimized in order to achieve the required geometric quality. 2.1.1. Samples
Typical quality grades that can be achieved in a regular production of A combination of a steel drive gear and a polymer driven gear was
polymer gears are between Q10 and Q12 according the ISO 1328 [61, selected for the tests. Spur gears with a standard ISO 53A [71] gear
62]. A lot of design experience and process conditions control attention profile were produced for both, the polymer and the steel gears. Gear
is required when higher accuracies in the range of quality grade Q8 are parameters for the tested geometry are presented in Table 1.
required. So far, gear quality assessment in industrial environments has Steel gears were produced by hobbing, employing a standard hob
predominantly been carried out using coordinate measuring machines with a quality grade AA according to DIN 3968 [72]. The material of
(CMMs) [63,64] or double-flank rolling test devices [65,66], which choice was 42CrMo4 steel and gears were plasma nitrided after hobbing.
provide reliable methods for the evaluation of the required geometric After plasma nitriding, the steel gears were subject to a superfinishing
parameters, defining the overall gear quality. Lately new methods based process in order to smoothen the surfaces and remove the sharp edges
on the optical inspection have been proposed [67,68]. that remained after cutting (Fig. 1b). After superfinishing, the steel
While different areas of polymer gear design have been explored at gears’ flank profiles were evaluated using the MarSurf XC20 contouro­
least to some degree, systematical studies are missing which would graph. Flank measurements indicated that the flank profile was not
investigate the quality of the gearbox assembly. Only few studies related changed during superfinishing. Flank surface roughness, was evaluated
to polymer gears can be found on this topic. Hu and Mao [69] studied by a TESA Rogusurf 90G (TESA Technology, Switzerland), where the
the misalignment effects on the wear performance of POM gear pairs. measuring direction was along the flank’s profile. Three measurements
Employing experimental gear testing, different misalignment principles of roughness were taken, and the mean value was Ra = 0.689 μm. To
were applied. Authors reported increased wear rate in case of misaligned assess the surface hardness five measurements were made and the
gears, where the highest impact on the wear rate was observed for the average value of 870 HV0.2 was determined.
pitch misalignment. Roda-Casanova and Perez [70] studied the effect of Polymer gears were produced by injection molding, employing a
contact pattern design on the mechanical and thermal behaviors of single cavity molding tool. The material of choice was PA 6, commercial
plastic-steel helical gear pairs.
This study aims to investigate the effect of center distance errors on Table 1
the mechanical and thermal state of the polymer gears. Gear pair center Parameters of the tested gears.
distance errors are presumed to have a significant effect on premature
Parameter Symbol Value
gear failure. In practice, these errors appear as a result of manufacturing
deviations of the gearbox components (gears, shafts, bearings and Profile involute,
ISO 53 A
housing), thermal expansion, and deformation of the components under
Module m 1 mm
load. The vast majority of polymer gear drives employ injection molded Number of teeth z 20
gears, shafts, bearings and other components – which are often com­ Pressure angle αn 20◦
bined together into multifunctional components – along with a plastic Face width b 6 mm
housings,. Thus, the center distance errors in gearboxes with polymer Pitch diameter d 20 mm
Tip diameter da 22 mm
gears are much larger than in the case of gearboxes with steel gear pairs. Root diameter df 17.5 mm
On the other hand, the polymer material is less rigid than steel, which, Base diameter db 18.794 mm
even with larger center distance errors, enables the adjustment of Coeff. of profile shift x1 0
components under load and better damping of vibrations and noise Coeff. of profile shift x2 0
Transverse contact ratio 1.557
during operation. It is known that gear pairs with involute teeth profiles εα

3
D. Zorko et al.
Fig. 1. a) Steel gear used for tests, b) Smoothly rounded edges can be observed
as a result of the superfinishing process.
grade Ultramid B3S (BASF SE, Germany), for which the standard ma­
terial properties are summarized in Table 2. The geometry of polymer
gears was measured after manufacturing on the Wenzel LH54 gear-
measuring machine and they were designated in the quality grade
Q10 according to ISO 1328. The injection molding parameters that were
used for molding the gears are presented in Table 3.
The data sheet for the PA 6 includes the properties for a dry and
conditioned material. The PA 6 tends to absorb moisture, which nega­
tively affects the material’s mechanical properties [73]. To prevent the
moisture uptake, test gears were stored together with silica moisture
absorbing bags. The moisture content in the used PA 6 was additionally
evaluated during the study. A 0.25% moisture uptake was found at
20 ◦ C, and below 0.1% at elevated temperatures in the range from 45 ◦ C
to 90 ◦ C. During testing, the temperature of the polymer gears increased
rapidly to a level where the measured bulk temperature was in the range
between and 80 ◦ C and 100 ◦ C. The flash temperature on the contacting
surfaces is expected to be even higher. Therefore, any additional mois­
ture was removed from the material rather quickly leading to an
assumption that the effect of moisture uptake was not significant during
life testing of PA 6 gears.
2.1.2. Testing conditions
Gear tests were conducted on a dedicated gear testing rig presented
in Fig. 2. The test rig is positioned inside a temperature chamber, where
the ambient conditions, e.g. temperature and humidity, are precisely
controlled. The tests were performed at the ambient temperature 20 ±
2 ◦ C and humidity of 40% ±5%. The testing rig’s design allows a free
frontal access to the test gears enabling thermographic temperature
measurements during testing. Siemens (Siemens AG, Germany) 4-pole
asynchronous electric motors are used for the drive and the brake, and
the power is transmitted to the shafts via toothed belts. Futek FSH02054
(Futek Advanced Sensor Technology, Inc., USA) torque sensor was
mounted on the drive shaft, and, after calibration, was used for the
torque measurement and control during testing. Speed sensors on the
drive and the driven shaft were used to control the rotational speed of
the gears. The brake electric motor is mounted on a positioning table
enabling, a precise adjustment of the center distance with an accuracy of
0.02 mm. Before each test the center distance was also checked with a
calibrated Digimatic micrometer (Mitutoyo, Private KK, Japan). The
stated accuracy of the employed micrometer is ± 4 μm. Gears were
tested in dry conditions at torque levels of 0.8 Nm and 1.0 Nm and the
Table 2
Standard material properties.
Parameter Standard Value
dry/conditioned
Elastic modulus (23 ◦ C) ISO 527 3400/1200 MPa
Yield stress (23 ◦ C) ISO 527 90/45 MPa
Flexural modulus (23 ◦ C) ISO 178 3000/- MPa
Melting temperature ISO 11357 220 ◦ C
Glass transition temperature DIN53765 57 ◦ C
Density ISO 1183 1.13 g/cm3
4
Polymer Testing 123 (2023) 108033
Table 3
Injection molding parameters.
Parameter Value
Injection pressure 60 MPa
Mold temperature 70 ◦ C
Nozzle temperature 248 ◦ C
Injection time 0.8 s
Packing pressure 60-40-20 MPa
Duration of the pack phase 3s
Cooling time 14 s
rotational speed was controlled at 1400 rpm during all tests. Loads were
selected in order to reflect stress in the material, to which gears in
practical applications are subject. Tests were conducted until PA 6 gear
failure, and at least three test repetitions were conducted for each set of
parameters. After testing, a detailed damage mode analysis was con­
ducted on tested gears using a Keyence VHX-2000 (Keyence, Japan)
digital microscope. The testing conditions are summarized and pre­
sented in Table 4.
The operating gear surface temperature was monitored during all
tests with the FLIR T 420 thermal camera (Flir Systems, Inc, USA). A
region of interest in the size of 3x3 pixels in the root area of the tested
polymer gear was selected for the measurements. After the camera was
calibrated, the emissivity was set to ε = 0.95. Similar emissivity values
were reported in previous studies [74] where gears made of PA 66
material were tested. The used emissivity value was confirmed before
the thermographic measurements (Fig. 3). Emissivity stickers with a
known emissivity value of ε = 0.95 were layered on the material sample.
The sample was put on a heating plate and heated up to 80 ◦ C, and then
cooled down to ambient room temperature. During the heating and
cooling phase the sample temperature was measured with a thermo­
graphic camera. No difference was observed in the measured tempera­
tures in the region where the emissivity sticker was layered and the
region without the sticker. Therefore, it was confirmed that the emis­
sivity value of ε = 0.95 is appropriate for thermographic measurements
of the tested polymer material.
2.2. Numerical analysis
The stress state in the tested gears was evaluated by employing a
FEM model for the gear meshing simulation. Simulations were con­
ducted in the Ansys Workbench 21.2 (Ansys, Inc., USA) computer soft­
ware. The FEM model was set up as a 2D problem, considering a planar
stress state. Quadratic PLANE183 finite elements were used for the ge­
ometry discretization, while contact conditions were simulated with
CONTA172 and TARGE169 elements. The edge of the drive gear’s hole
was attached with a remote displacement support to a fixed point 1,
placed in the center of the drive gear’s hole. The parameters of the
selected remote displacement support were set in a manner to prevent
the movement of the selected entity in the x1 and y1 directions, while the
rotation of the gear around the z1 axis was allowed. A similar support
was used to constrain the driven gear, where the driven gear was
allowed a free rotation around the fixed-point 2, placed in the center of
the driven gear’s hole (Fig. 4).
Rotation was prescribed to the drive gear and torque load was pre­
scribed to the driven gear acting in the opposite direction of the rotation.
Stress analysis was performed on the middle tooth, which meshed
through all the characteristic meshing points. The simulated loads were
the same as in gear tests. A simulation was performed for each load and
each tested center distance.
Material properties were modelled as linearly elastic, using the ma­
terial properties from the manufacturer’s datasheets as provided in
Table 2. When simulating a single meshing cycle under the considered
loads, the non-linear material properties do not influence the material
response noticeably, since in that short time period viscous properties do
not become evident. The assumption of linear elastic behavior is
D. Zorko et al. Polymer Testing 123 (2023) 108033

Fig. 2. Schematic representation of the test set-up.

generally used when calculating the stress in polymer gear design, where
Table 4
the calculated strains are below the polymer material’s yield point [50,
Testing conditions.
53]. A comparison with a viscoplastic model was conducted by Černe
Nr. of test Torque Rotational Center Number of test et al. [75], where it was confirmed that that the presumption of linear
condition [Nm] speed [rpm] distance repetitions
elastic mechanical behavior yields a sufficiently accurate approximation
[mm]
of the material’s behavior for practical thermo-mechanical modeling
1 0.8 1400 20.00 3 purposes in gear design applications.
2 0.8 1400 20.05 4
3 0.8 1400 20.10 3
A frictional contact according to Coulomb’s law was modelled and
4 1.0 1400 20.00 4 the Augmented Lagrange method was used for the contact formulation.
5 1.0 1400 20.05 4 The values of the coefficient of friction required for frictional contact
6 1.0 1400 20.10 4 modeling were selected based on the VDI 2736. The maximum principal
stress calculated in the root region ROI1 was considered as the nominal

Fig. 3. Experimental set-up for confirming the used emissivity value for the PA 6 gears.

5
D. Zorko et al. Polymer Testing 123 (2023) 108033

Fig. 4. The numerical model.

root stress σ F0 (Fig. 5a). Therefore, the compression due to the radial analytically calculated by Eq. (2) as proposed by the VDI 2736 guideline:
force acting on the tooth was taken into account, along with the effect of √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
the frictional force. The region of interest (ROI1) where the stress was Ft u+1
σ H0 = ZH • ZE • Zε • Zβ • • (2)
evaluated was determined by the 30◦ tangent method. The maximum b • d1 u
calculated contact pressure at the contacting edge of the tooth’s flank
for the studied gear geometry, the factor values are ZH = 2.495, ZE =
(ROI2) was considered as the maximum flank pressure σH0 (Fig. 5b).
27.385, Zε = 0.902, Zβ = 1, bw = 6 mm, d1 = 20 mm, u = 1. A comparison
A convergence test using the h-refinement method was performed to
of the analytically and numerically determined stress is shown in Fig. 7.
approve the mesh density as shown in Fig. 6. The average element
A good agreement between the standard-calculated and FEM-
quality was 0.95. The numerical model was verified by comparing the
calculated nominal root stress can be observed for the steel gear pair.
simulation-calculated stress to analytically-calculated. First, a steel/
The deviation between the calculated stress is within the range of 1% at
steel gear combination was verified where the ISO 6336 method B was
both analyzed load levels. A much higher deviation was observed for the
taken as a reference. After that, the driven gear’s material properties
steel/PA 6 gear pair. In that case, the reason for the deviation is the load
were switched to PA 6 and the VDI 2736:2014 calculated stress was
induced contact ratio increase, which is not considered by the standard
taken for comparison.
calculation. The root stress calculated by the numerical simulation is
As a basis for the analytical calculation of the nominal root stress, the
therefore slightly lower, i.e. 16% lower stress at 0.8 Nm and 21% lower
VDI 2736 (DIN 3990 Method C), equation was used. The nominal root
stress at 1.0 Nm. This effect was already stressed out in several other
stress was calculated by Eq. (1):
studies [5,50].
Ft
σ F0 = YFa • YSa • Yε • Yβ • (1)
b•m
For the tested gear set, the values of the influential factors were YFa
= 3.13, YSa = 1.49, Yε = 0.732, Yβ = 1. The flank pressure was

Fig. 5. Areas for tooth root stress and flank pressure calculation.

6
D. Zorko et al. Polymer Testing 123 (2023) 108033

at different analyzed center distances is shown in Fig. 9. The reduction in

Fig. 6. Mesh convergence test results, maximum calculated nominal root stress
with different sizes of finite elements employed in ROI1.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Lifespan testing results
The lifespan testing results are presented in Fig. 8. A decrease in the
polymer gear’s service life with the increase of center distance can be
observed. At the load level of 0.8 Nm an increase of center distance for
0.05 mm resulted in a 29% reduction in gear’s service life, while the 0.1
mm increase resulted in a 37% reduction in gear-life. At the load level of
1 Nm, a 13% gear-life reduction was observed for the center distance
increase of 0.05 mm and a 41% reduction in case of a 0.1 mm increase.
These results indeed confirm a distinctive influence of the center
distance on the gear service life. This can be attributed to an increase in
root stress as was identified from numerical analysis results (see
following Sect. 3.2). As will be demonstrated from simulation results, a
wider center distance decreases the contact ratio, which in turn de­
teriorates the load distribution and prolongs the period of single tooth
contact in the middle of the meshing phase. These processes can hasten
the nucleation of fatigue cracks on the tooth root and, as evident from
the test results, lead to more rapid gear failure.
the contact ratio following an increase in center distance is reflected in
the offset of all characteristic meshing points. The black dashed vertical
lines represent the characteristic meshing points for the center distance
a = 19.95 mm and the red dashed vertical lines for the center distance a
= 20.15 mm. It can be observed that with the increasing center distance
the initial contact point A occurs later, while the final point of contact E
occurs earlier. The maximum root stress occurs is the single tooth con­
tact area, between points B and D, and increases proportionally with the
center distance increase.
The theoretical center distance for the considered gear pair is a =
20.00 mm. For the load of 0.8 Nm, the calculated nominal root stress at
the ideal center distance was 37.68 MPa, and for the load of 1 Nm, it was
44.01 MPa. If the center distance is increased for 0.15 mm, the root
stress at both load levels increases by 12%. The maximum calculated
nominal root stress at different analyzed center distances is presented in
Fig. 10. It can be seen that in the range of center distance a =
[19.95–20.15] mm, the root stress increases linearly. With an increase in
the root stress an earlier failure of the polymer gear can be expected. In
Fig. 10, the nominal root stress calculated according the VDI 2736
guideline is presented with dashed lines. It can be observed that the
simulation-calculated root stress does not exceed the value calculated
according the guideline, even for the largest considered center distance
error. This indicates that the stress calculation according the VDI2736
guideline is conservative, even when a certain distance error occurs
between the meshing gears.
3.2.2. The effect of center distance error on the flank pressure
Fig. 11 shows the evolution of flank pressure for gears meshing at
different center distances. Again the shift in the characteristic meshing

3.2. Stress calculation

3.2.1. The effect of center distance error on the root stress

Fig. 8. The effect of center distance error on the polymer gear’s lifespan.
The evolution of the nominal root stress for the driven polymer gear

Fig. 7. Comparison of analytical and numerical results: a) Nominal root stresses σF0, b) nominal flank pressure σH0 (calculated in pitch point C).

7
D. Zorko et al.
Fig. 9. The evolution of nominal root stress σF0 for gears meshing at different center distances: a) gears loaded with 0.8 Nm torque, b) gears loaded with 1.0
Nm torque.
Fig. 10. The effect of center distance error on the maximum value of
root stress.
points can be observed, where the tooth meshing time shortens as the
center distance increases. Unlike the values of the root stresses however,
the values of the flank pressures in the single tooth meshing area (be­
tween points B and D) do not increase with the increasing center dis­
tance. The maximum values of the flank pressures in the area of single
tooth meshing for all considered cases appear in the pitch point region
Fig. 11. The evolution of nominal contact pressure σH0 for gears meshing at different center distances: a) gears loaded with 0.8 Nm torque, b) gears loaded with 1.0
Nm torque.
8
Polymer Testing 123 (2023) 108033
(the meshing point C).
Contact pressure peaks can be observed at the start and end of
meshing, i.e. in the region of points A and E. These pressure peaks are
not considered by the standard calculation, however, the numerical
results indicate that they are present. Fig. 12 presents the meshing in
these regions and it can be observed that the tip of the driven gear comes
into contact in point A, and analogously the tip of the drive gear in point
E. The small tip rounding radius results in a very small contact area and a
steep increase in contact pressure. The calculated magnitude of the
pressure peaks is unrealistic, as the values exceed the yield strength of
the PA6 material by more than two times. In reality, the shape of the
gear, at the expense of plastic deformations and wear of the material, is
adjusted and the gear pair runs-in. Nevertheless, these stress peaks
should not be neglected, since the maximum sliding velocities occur in
the same region as the noted contact pressure peaks. The combination of
a high flank pressure and sliding velocity is undesirable as it causes a
higher wear rate of the polymer gear as well as increased heat
generation.
Contact pressure peaks at the start and end of meshing can be
reduced by applying a larger tip rounding, or even completely removed
by introducing a proper tooth modification in a form of a tip relief. These
effects were studied in one of author’s previous studies [10]. For the
analyzed gear pair, a flank pressure reduction of 48% at the beginning of
the mesh and 38% at the end, was reported, when increasing the tip
rounding from R = 0.03 mm to R = 0.3 mm. The maximum tooth
deflection on the tip diameter in the gear’s circumferential direction was
analyzed. At a torque of 0.8 Nm, the calculated tooth deflection was
0.043 mm. With a tip relief of Ca = 0.030 mm the flank-pressure peaks
no longer occur, implying that the tip relief should be of a size that is
D. Zorko et al.
Fig. 12. The flank pressure peaks at the start and end of meshing.
similar to the tooth deflection.
3.3. The effect of center distance error on the actual contact ratio
Neglecting the deformation of the gear teeth and the related change
in the contact ratio is often the reason for the deviations between
analytical and numerical calculations. Therefore the actual contact ra­
tios were determined by the numerical simulations, of gear pairs
meshing at different center distances. The characteristic meshing points
A, B, C, D and E were determined from the simulation results. The actual
contact ratio was then determined as the ratio between meshing time
from points A-E and points A-D as show in Eq. (3) below:
̂
AE
εα =
̂
AD
The calculated contact ratios are shown in Fig. 13. It can be observed
that with the increasing center distance the actual contact ratio is
reduced. The standard-calculated contact ratio as per Eq. (4):
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
da1 2 − db1 2 + da2 2 − db2 2 − 2⋅a⋅sin αwt
εα = , (4)
2⋅π⋅mt ⋅cos αt
Fig. 13. The calculated actual contact ratio for the analyzed center distances.
Polymer Testing 123 (2023) 108033
which does not consider the actual teeth deflection, is εα = 1.55 for the
center distance a = 20 mm. The calculation does not take in to account
center distance error.
The results of the numerical simulations show that an increase in the
center distance reduces the transverse contact ratio. Fig. 13 shows the
calculated contact ratio with the change of the center distance. A 0.15
mm increase in the center distance results in a 5% reduction of the
contact ratio. The theoretical contact ratio is significantly lower than the
actual one, as the theoretical calculation is based on the assumption of
non-deformable teeth. Although the contact ratio decreases with the
increasing center distance, it never falls below the theoretical level.
3.4. The effect of center distance error on the operating temperature of
(3) polymer gears
In all tests, the surface temperature of the polymer gear was
measured during the entire test. Fig. 14 shows the temperatures of
polymer gears measured for tests conducted at different center distances
and torque load 0.8 Nm. No significant effect on the evolution of oper­
ating temperatures was observed when increasing the center distance.
The generation of heat in a meshing gear pairs depends mainly on the
frictional sliding between the meshing flanks. Hu and Mao [69] found in
their study that the reduction of center distance is more critical for the
operating temperatures and wear rate of polymer gears.
When designing polymer gear pairs, the operating temperature is a
Fig. 14. The measured operating temperatures of polymer gears meshing at
different center distances and torque load 0.8 Nm.
9
D. Zorko et al.
very important factor, since polymer material properties depend highly
on the temperature. If the applied load is too high, the polymer gear
heats above the acceptable temperature for continuous operation, which
leads to instant thermal failure. Therefore, a temperature control
calculation must be conducted when designing a new gear pair with
polymer gears. Several numerical [53–55] and analytical methods [56,
76–78] were proposed for the temperature calculation of polymer gears;
unfortunately the vast majority of them is limited to special cases or is
rather complex to be practically used by engineers designing gears. A
simple-to-use analytical model developed by Hachmann and Strickle
[56] and later supplemented by Ehrenstein et al. [79] is proposed for
temperature calculation in the VDI 2736 guideline:
( )
ϑFuβ ≈ ϑ0 + P • μ • HV •
kϑ,Fuβ
+
Rλ,G
• ED0,64 • FQ (3a)
b • z • (v • m)0,75 AG
Calculating the temperature using Eq. (2) the following values were
used.
ϑ0 = 23◦ C b = 6 mm
n gear pair is higher than the actual root stress by around 20%. The
P = M•2•π• z = 20
60
μ = 0.2 , this value is proposed for all non-lubricated steel/polymer v =
contacts in the VDI 2736 guideline 1.466 m/s
mn = 1 mm
HV = 0.206 [10] Rλ,G = 0
( m)0,75 ED = 1
K• • mm1,75
kϑ,Root = 900 s transverse contact ratio. Due to the increase in the radial distance
W
In Fig. 14, it can be observed that, as the center distance increases,
the operating temperatures even decrease slightly. This can be attrib­
uted to the increase in lateral backlash, which allows for greater air flow
and better heat dissipation due to convection. Fig. 15a shows the
backlash (radial - jr and normal - jn) at the theoretically ideal center
distance, and Fig. 15b shows the backlash at an increased center dis­
tance, i.e. 20.1 mm.
3.5. Correlation between the operating temperature and the type of failure
Operating temperature plays an important role in the service life and
it can also affect the failure type of a polymer gear. In most of the cases
considered, the operating temperature reached steady-state during
operation and the failure mechanism was root fatigue. An example of a
steady operating temperature and associated gear damage after failure is
shown in Fig. 16. After the initial phase of running, the temperature
gradually dropped and stabilized. The gear failed as a result of a fracture
in the root of the tooth.
Fig. 17 shows an example where the operating temperature did not
reach steady-state and instead started increasing steadily after the initial
running in, which means that the temperature generation is greater than
the temperature dissipation. An image of the failed gear is shown next to
Fig. 15. Backlash between teeth: a) theoretical center distance, b) center distance 20.10 mm.
10
Polymer Testing 123 (2023) 108033
the temperature diagram. Since the limit temperature of the continuous
operation of the BS3 Ultramid material was exceeded, the material
softened which led to severe plastic deformation.
4. Conclusions
The study reports the effects of center distance error on the me­
chanical and thermal response of a polymer gear when meshing with a
steel pinion. A complex engineering problem was extrapolated to a
laboratory testing environment and studied under controlled conditions.
Polymer gears were tested under real-life load spectrums and with
imposed center distance errors of typical range that occur in practical
applications. Based on the conducted work, the following conclusions
were drawn.
1. The analytical results of the steel/steel gear pair tooth root stress are
in good agreement with the numerical results. The root stress
determined according to the VDI 2736 guideline for the steel/PA6
reason for this is the assumption of non-deformability of the teeth
when considering polymer gears by the analytical method. Analyti­
cally and numerically calculated flank pressure is in good agreement
despite the aforementioned assumption.
2. A 0.15 mm increase in center distance results in a 5% decrease of the
between the two meshing gears, the next pair of teeth comes into
contact later.
3. An increase in the center distance by a 0.15 mm results in a 12%
increase of the nominal root stress of the polymer gear. In the range
of center distances considered, it has been shown that the nominal
root stress increases approximately linearly. Even at the largest
center distance, however, the nominal root stress remains lower than
the one predicted by the VDI 2736 guideline, pointing to the fact that
the guideline overestimates this stress component. A decrease in the
contact ratio as a consequence of increased center distance results in
an increase of the single tooth meshing area and, consequently, an
increase in root stresses. The flank pressure calculated for the single
tooth meshing area does not change with the center distance
increase.
4. Tests on the gear testing rig showed that increasing the center dis­
tance at which the gear pair operates can cause premature failure of
the polymer gear by as much as 35%. Most of the failure occurred as
a result of fracture in the root of the tooth, thus a correlation between
the center distance error, increased root stresses and shortened ser­
vice life of the studied cylindrical polymer spur gear was confirmed.
5. Center distance change did not cause major changes in the operating
temperatures of the polymer gear. In some cases, increasing the
center distance had a beneficial effect on the operating temperature,
D. Zorko et al.
Fig. 16. Gear temperature during testing at 1.0 Nm torque and a center distance of 20.1 mm, the gear failed after 1.1 • 105 load cycles due to root fatigue failure.
Fig. 17. Gear temperature during testing at 1.0 Nm torque and a center distance of 20.1 mm, the gear failed after 4.5 • 104 load cycles due to thermal failure.
because the backlash was increased and, as a result, heat dissipation
was improved.
The effect of center distance error was studied on a reference gear
geometry. Using the presented methodology, the influence of the center
distance deviation for other gear geometries and also other gear types
like helical or even worm gears could be studied, provided that a three-
dimensional FEA model is developed, as would be required for such
gearing geometries. Further work could include the study of the center
distance’s effect on the gear wear. Such a study would be particularly
interesting for material pairs where this type of failure mode is
dominant.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the Slovenian Research Agency via the
post-doc projects Z2-3207 and Z2-3208 as well as via programme group
P2-0425.
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