Fracture failure for the teeth of sprocket wheels in mineral conveying equipment

Abstract In this work, fracture failure for the teeth of sprocket wheels in a mineral conveying equipment was analyzed. The teeth fractured during the unloaded testing after the assembly of the sprocket structure. The evidence showed that failure of the sprocket tooth was a brittle fracture. It was caused by the rapid crack propagation from the inside defective region to the outer of the material under a combination action of the residual stress inside the material and the bending stress during the short-term operation. According to the analysis results, the initial region of the fracture was located at the areas of hydrogen flakes, which was the main reason for the fracture of the sprocket teeth.