The core causes of worm tooth surface wear of the WPWK80-40 reducer (the worm gear is mostly copper alloy and the worm is alloy steel) can be summarized into 10 categories, covering key dimensions such as lubrication, load, installation, and material, as follows:
1. Improper lubrication: Failure to use special extreme pressure oil for worm gears (use ordinary gear oil), the oil level is too low/too high, the oil has deteriorated (containing impurities and moisture), or the oil has not been changed for a long time, resulting in the failure of the lubricating film on the tooth surface and dry friction/semi-dry friction and wear.
2. Overload operation: Long-term over-rated load (WPWK80-40 rated torque is about 250N·m), frequent starts and stops, and impact loads (such as hard starts with load, emergency stops), make the tooth surface contact stress exceed the design limit, aggravating wear.
3. Installation deviation: The verticality of the axis line of the worm and the worm gear is out of tolerance (standard ≤0.02mm), the meshing gap is too large/too small (normally 0.15-0.3mm), resulting in unbalanced loading or tooth gnawing, and excessive wear of local tooth surfaces.
4. Intrusion of impurities: The surface of the parts is not cleaned during installation (residual iron filings and oil stains), and the operating environment is dusty/humid. Impurities enter the meshing surface, causing abrasive wear (scratches and pitting on the tooth surface).
5. Unreasonable material matching: The purity of the worm gear copper alloy is insufficient (contains impurities), and the surface hardness of the worm gear does not meet the standard (not nitrided, hardness ≤ HRC55), resulting in a decrease in the anti-wear performance of the tooth surface.
6. The operating temperature is too high: poor heat dissipation (high ambient temperature, dust accumulation on the casing) and deterioration of oil quality lead to increased friction and heating. When the oil temperature exceeds 90°C, the performance of the tooth surface metal decreases and the wear rate accelerates.
7. Frequent forward and reverse rotation or reversal impact: Repeated reversal in a short period of time, the reversal interval is too short (<3 seconds), and the tooth surface is subjected to alternating impact loads, resulting in contact fatigue wear.
8. Manufacturing accuracy defects: worm gear tooth profile errors (such as excessive tooth surface roughness and tooth direction deviation) reduce the contact area during meshing and cause local stress concentration to cause wear.
9. Long-term idleness without maintenance: The equipment has been idle for a long time, and the worm has not been filled with oil or the worm has not been rotated regularly. After the tooth surface is corroded, the rust layer will aggravate the meshing wear when it is restarted.
10. Improper operation: No no-load preheating during startup (direct startup with load), rough braking method (emergency stop causes tooth surface impact), destroys the lubricating film and increases contact load, accelerating wear.
