An Investigation on Woven-glass Fiber-reinforced Epoxy Laminate Conveyor Chain Components

Abstract

This article is concerned with the experimental and numerical results of the stress analysis in woven-glass fiber-reinforced conveying chain components. The effects of various loading conditions on the stress of a pin-loaded composite component are investigated. For the experimental study, an apparatus had been developed to simulate chain components in real motion, and two different loading conditions of the chain component have been investigated. The first condition represents the movement of the chain components without loading, while in the second condition, the chain component touches and moves the load. The finite element code ANSYS has been used to perform the numerical analysis using three-dimensional eight-noded layered structural solid elements. The chain tensile forces loaded through pins are chosen to be 300, 600, 900, and 1200 N for the two conditions of the chain components. Comparisons are made between the numerical and the experimental studies for the two different conditions. The experimental and numerical results show that at the second loading condition the stress values increase by increasing the tensile force.