Comparison of service life of hard tooth surface and soft tooth surface reducer
Publish Time: 2025-09-16 Origin: Site
The service life difference between the hard tooth surface reducer and the soft tooth surface reducer is due to the essential difference between the tooth surface hardness, load-bearing capacity, and wear resistance/fatigue resistance . It is also affected by external factors such as working conditions and maintenance level.
Essential difference : The hard tooth surface achieves higher load-bearing capacity and failure resistance through surface hardening process, which is the core reason for its longer life;
Lifetime comparison : Under the same working conditions, the life of the hard tooth surface is 1.5-2 times that of the soft tooth surface, and the advantages are more significant under heavy load/hard working conditions;
Key premise : The life advantage of hard tooth surfaces depends on 'correct Selection (match load), standardized installation (guaranteed centering), high-quality lubrication (cleaning and adaptation), otherwise the life may be shortened due to bearing failure, teeth breakage and other problems;
SelectionLogic : Life expectancy requirement > 10 years, complex working conditions → hard tooth surface; life expectancy requirement 5-8 years, simple working conditions → soft tooth surface, balancing cost and performance.
The service life of a hard-toothed reducer is usually longer than that of a soft-toothed reducer. Under normal maintenance conditions, the life of the hard tooth surface reducer can reach 10-20 years, while the soft tooth surface reducer is generally 5-15 years. 12
Hard-tooth surface reducer Features
The surface of the hard-tooth surface gear has been processed by carburizing, quenching and other processes, with high hardness (HRC58-64), strong wear resistance, and is suitable for harsh working conditions with high load and high speed. Its gear accuracy is high (level 6-7 accuracy), small friction loss, and transmission efficiency can reach 96%-98%. 12
Soft tooth surface reducer features
Soft tooth surface gear has low hardness (HB220-280), and mainly relies on surface coatings (such as silver plating) to reduce noise and friction. Its process is simple and low cost, but its wear resistance is weak. It is prone to tooth surface glue or pitting corrosion in long-term high loads, and its transmission efficiency is about 90%-94%. 24
Influencing factorsWork
conditions and environment: Hard tooth surface is more suitable for heavy load and strong impact scenarios (such as metallurgy, mining), while soft tooth surfaces are suitable for light load and low-speed scenarios (such as food processing). 45
Maintenance cost: The initial cost of hard tooth surface is high but the maintenance cycle is long. The initial cost of soft tooth surface is low but the gear wear needs to be frequently checked. twenty three