Validation of a simulation method of additive manufactured plastic sliding shoes of oil hydraulic piston machines

• Applicant: Professorin Dr.-Ing. Katharina Schmitz
• Subject Area: Engineering Design, Machine Elements, Product Development
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 531424256

Piston machines are essential for stationary and mobile oil-hydraulic applications due to their high-pressure capability and the possibility of big volume flows as well as high efficiency. In axial piston machines, sliding shoes are used as plain bearing between the pistons and the wobble/ or swash plate. According to the current state of the art, the sliding shoes in oil-hydraulic piston machines are made of leaded bronze or brass alloys in order to realize the necessary hard/soft pairing in this tribological contact. However, lead has already been listed as a substance of very high concern on the candidate list for inclusion as a substance subject to authorization in the REACH Regulation by the European Chemicals Agency since 2018. The substitution of lead is therefore of high priority for a more sustainable hydraulics. Additive manufactured plastic sliding shoes represent a possible alternative to the one made of lead containing alloys. Plastic sliding shoes are already being used successfully in water hydraulics. A simulation model specifically for sliding shoes has been developed at ifas, which is to be extended during this research project. The focus is on the implementation of the nonlinear deformation of plastic components. At the same time, sliding shoes will be manufactured and analyzed using additive manufacturing processes in order to evaluate the suitability of different materials, processes and geometries. Subsequently, a simulative parameter study is performed and evaluated. Experimental investigations of the developed plastic sliding shoes on a special single-contact test rig will validate the simulation methodology and elicit the application limits of the components. The aim of the research project is to combine the simulative and experimental possibilities at the applicant institute for researching the necessary fundamentals for the design of additive manufactured plastic sliding shoes for oil-hydraulic piston machines. The gained knowledge of this research project is important for the substitution of lead-containing alloys and an increased resource efficiency in oil-hydraulic piston machines.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants