Glass Fiber Reinforced Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Composite Gears by FDM 3D Printing

3D printing of gears via fused deposition modeling (FDM) has been recently introduced as a low-cost efficient manufacturing method. Different materials have been 3D printed and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) with excellent mechanical properties has been found to be promising. However, 3D printed ABS gears possess a high level of abrasion rate. This paper introduces a new class of ABS-based gears reinforced by different amounts of milled E-glass fibers and 3D printed by FDM with acceptable thermo-mechanical properties and performance. A set of thermo-mechanical tests is carried out to provide an insight into the influence of adding glass fibers on the glass transition temperature (T-g), hardness and teeth bending strength, teeth failure force, weight lost, abrasion resistance, mechanical wear, and performance of composite gears. The mechanical behaviors of driving and driven gears are examined in high and room temperatures with or without lubrication. Microstructure and gear profile analysis of 3D printed layers, worn surfaces, and fracture locations are also conducted by SEM images and profile projector. The newly developed glass fiber reinforced ABS gears reveal a high level of thermo-mechanical performance in terms of hardness, mechanical strength, bending force, abrasion and wear resistance compared to pure 3D printed ABS gears.