A comprehensive experimental investigation of the noise evaluation of coated spur polymer gears made of POM was performed in this study. The three Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) coatings investigated were aluminium (Al), chromium (Cr), and chromium nitrite (CrN). The gears were tested on an in-house-developed testing machine under a torque of 20 Nm and at a rotational speed of 1000 rpm. The noise measurements were performed with the tested gear pair on the testing device with a sound-proof acoustic foam used for the acoustic sound-proof insulation. The sound signal was analysed in time, frequency, and time-frequency domains and typical phenomena were identified in the signal. Experimental results showed that the noise level was higher for polymer gears with different coatings if compared to the polymer gears without coatings. With sound analysis in the time-frequency domain, precise degradation of the coatings could be noticed. In future studies, it would be appropriate to use a new method for signal analysis, e.g., high-order statistics and hybrid technique.
Keywords: PVD-coatings; experimental testing; noise evaluation; polymer gears.