Quantitative Evaluation of Strain Near Tooth Fillet by Image Processing

The accurate measurement of strain and stress in a tooth is important for the reliable evaluation of the strength or life of gears. In this research, a strain measurement method which is based on image processing is applied to the analysis of strain near the tooth fillet. The loaded tooth is photographed using a CCD camera and stored as a digital image. The displacement of the point in the tooth flank is tracked by the cross-correlation method, and then, the strain is calculated. The interrogation window size of the correlation method and the overlap amount affect the accuracy and resolution. In the case of measurements at structures with complicated profiles such as fillets, the interrogation window maintains a large size and the overlap amount should be large. The surface condition also affects the accuracy. The white painted surface with a small black particle is suitable for measurement.