With the development of the trend of“replacing steel with plastics”, plastic gears are also continuously evolving to meet the operating requirements of various fields.
Are you still struggling with choosing the right gear material? Are you still hesitating among materials such as PA, POM, and PEEK?
Don’t worry. In the selection of materials under the trend of “replacing steel with plastics”, why not get to know another rising star in the field of gear materials — POK? One more understanding means one more choice. Perhaps this is exactly the solution to your problem.
About Gears, I believe everyone is familiar with gears. The most common working principle of gears is gear transmission, which can achieve functions such as changing rotational speed and torque, changing the direction of motion, and changing the form of motion. Gears have advantages including high transmission efficiency, accurate transmission ratio, and a wide power range.
For these reasons, gears are important components in various mechanical equipment, such as automobiles, machine tools, aviation, ships, agricultural machinery, construction machinery, and other fields.
With the development of the trend of “replacing steel with plastics”, plastic gears are also continuously evolving to meet the operating requirements of various applications.
1 About POK
POK, also known as polyketone, is a high-performance engineering plastic. It can not only meet the excellent mechanical performance requirements of gears, but also demonstrates outstanding wear resistance among various materials, making it an ideal choice for many application scenarios.
2 Advantages of POK as Gear Material
3 Wear / Noise Test Comparison
● Test standard: ASTM G 137;
● Test materials: POK, POM, PA66;
● Test conditions: Load (0.1 MPa), speed (1, 1.25, 1.5 m/s).
4 Limitations Under Certain Conditions
POK is not a perfect material for every situation. There are still some conditions where it may not be suitable, and actual application environments need to be considered:
Attention:
● Long-term exposure to temperatures ＞ 90 ℃, or high-temperature and high-humidity environments;
● Applications where component discoloration is not allowed (black grades are recommended);
● Situations requiring resistance to strong acids or strong alkalis;
● Attempts to replace currently used super engineering plastics, such as PEEK and PSU, where the same rigidity, strength, and heat resistance are required.
5 Reference Applications
01 For applications requiring low-temperature resistance, or materials that require no formaldehyde or harmful substance emissions to replace POM materials: Choose POK. It can not only solve the above problems but also prevent mold corrosion.
▷ Such as small appliances, medical applications, and other fields.
02 In high-temperature wear-resistant applications, POM and PA66 may melt and lose their wear resistance under high load/high temperature conditions: POK materials can be used as replacements to ensure stable wear resistance.▷ Such as CNC milling machining, automotive electronic power steering, and other fields.
03 When POM and PA66 gears generate high noise, have insufficient wear resistance and fatigue resistance, or when POM gears are prone to tooth breakage: POK materials can be used as replacements to ensure quiet and stable product operation.
▷ Such as robot vacuum cleaners, floor cleaning machines, printers, and other small appliances.
04 For requirements such as high-temperature wear resistance, noise reduction, and medical-grade safety materials: POK materials can be used, with relevant water-contact and food-grade certifications, no formaldehyde, and low VOCs.
▷ Such as small appliances, medical devices, and other fields.
Others
POM is extremely sensitive to acids and alkalis, so halogen-containing additives cannot be used in POM. Therefore, POM is incompatible with halogen-containing PTFE and flame retardants.
In addition, although POM has a low coefficient of friction, its wear loss is relatively high. The wear process may be accompanied by noise and powder generation, which also requires attention.
Wer Resistance Test Data of POK and POM Materials Under 100 rpm and 66 N Conditions:：
Compared with POM, POK materials already have excellent wear resistance. If higher wear resistance is required, additional wear-resistant additives can also be added to further improve performance.
The design flexibility of POK materials can also meet your creativity, enabling complex shapes that are difficult to achieve with traditional metals, while easily adapting to design trends and application requirements.
It can save significant costs in materials and manufacturing processes, reducing production costs without affecting quality or durability.
POK gears can be applied in fields such as water meters, cleaning appliances, printers, automotive components, electronic toys, medical applications, and more.
If there are special requirements that cannot be met by standard grades, don’t worry. We can also conduct customized R&D and production according to your requirements, making every effort to achieve the expected material performance and provide customers with the ideal material solutions.
In summary, POK materials occupy an important position in the field of engineering plastics due to their excellent wear resistance. Whether in automotive, machinery, electronics, or other industries, POK provides a reliable and efficient material choice. If you are looking for a material with excellent wear resistance, POK may be worth trying. We believe it will bring you unexpected results.
