Comparative analysis of surface characteristics of Nylon based polymer gears manufactured by different techniques

The comparative analysis of surface characteristics of Nylon based polymer gears manufactured by different techniques has been carried out in the present paper. Nylon based gears have been manufactured using three different techniques viz. machining, injection molding and additive (3D printing) manufacturing process. To investigate the surface characteristics of these gears, gear tooth samples were prepared for each type of gear in which surface roughness and surface hardness were measured. Roughness average (Ra) of 1.068 mu m of injection molded gear tooth sample was found minimum whereas the roughness average of machined and printed sample was found 3 folds and 12 folds more, respectively. The hardness value has been measured on gear tooth profile and was found similar for machined and printed gear. However, hardness value for injection samples was found comparatively less. Copyright (C) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The present paper conducted a comparative analysis of the surface characteristics of Nylon based polymer gears manufactured by different techniques. The findings showed that the injection molded gears had the smallest surface roughness, while the machined and printed gears had higher surface roughness. In terms of hardness, the machined and printed gears had similar values, while the injection molded gears had comparatively lower hardness.