The effect of injection molding lunker defect on the durability performance of polymer gears

Abstract Polymer gears manufactured with injection molding have been widely used in many industries, but the unavoidable injection molding lunker defects limit the loading capacity and the further use of polymer gears in power transmissions. In this work, injection molding lunker defects are detected by X-ray CT and a polymer gear fatigue model with lunker defect is established considering the thermal-elastic-plastic constitutive material behavior. Durability tests are also conducted, and the fatigue lives correspond well with simulation results. Results reveal that the lunker defect jeopardizes the loading capacity of tooth root under medium or heavy loading conditions, while the tooth flank failure is significantly influenced by the loading condition.