Gear Strength of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plant-Derived Polyamide Biomass Composites

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop the new engineering materials such as structural materials and tribomaterials based on plant-derived materials, we investigated the gear strength of carbon fiber reinforced plant-derived polyamide biomass composites. Three types of plant-derived polyamide: semi-aromatic polyamide 10T (PA10T), polyamide 1010 (PA1010) and polyamide 11 (PA11) were used as a matrix polymer. Carbon fiber was used as the reinforcement and its volume fraction was fixed on 20vol.%. Various CF reinforced plant-derived polyamide biomass composites were extruded using a twin extruder and injection-molded. The test small spur gears (pitch diameter d₀=11mm, module m=0.5, number of teeth Z=22, tip diameter d_a=12mm and face width b=1.5mm) were machined from injection-molded test piece and finished by a hobbing machine. Two types of gear strength of various CF reinforced plant-derived polyamide biomass composites: dedendum bending strength of these spur gears by universal tester and gear fatigue strength by a power absorbing type gear testing apparatus were evaluated. It was found that the dedendum bending strength of CF/PA10T biomass composites was the highest strength of various CF/PA biomass composites used. On the other hand, the gear fatigue strength of CF/PA1010 biomass composites were stronger than that of CF/PA10T and CF/PA11 biomass composites.