Bucket Teeth - A Small, Critical Component with Great Value for Excavator Operations

The Big Role of a "Small Component": A "Must-Have" Support for the Entire Excavation Process

The "smallness" of bucket teeth is reflected in their size and cost; their "key" lies in their irreplaceable role in the entire excavation process. Whether it's the first step from "stationary" to "transferring" materials, or ensuring the equipment's "efficient operation" and "long-term durability," bucket teeth play an irreplaceable role.

(I) Difficulty Digging Without Teeth: The "First Implementer" of Breaking Through Material Barriers

The core mission of an excavator is to remove material from its original location, and the bucket teeth are the "first point of contact" in this process. Without bucket teeth, even an excavator with powerful hydraulic power and a sturdy bucket will struggle to effectively penetrate the material—much like a person without teeth cannot chew food, relying on external force to "crush" it, which is inefficient and can easily damage the mouth.

In soft farmland reclamation operations, the flat, thin-blade design of the earthmoving teeth allows them to penetrate 40-60cm deep soil layers with minimal resistance, ensuring a bucket fill rate exceeding 90%. Without teeth, the flat blade at the front of the bucket would slip in the soil, reducing the excavation volume per bucket by 50% and requiring frequent cleaning of the adhering soil. In hard rock mining, the sharp, thick design of the rock teeth is crucial: their tips concentrate the excavator's traction force, generating a localized pressure of 500-800 MPa. Like a steel needle, they penetrate the hard rock surface, creating a 10-15cm deep crack. The leverage of the bucket then fractures the rock. Directly impacting the hard rock with the bucket would not only deform the bucket, overload the hydraulic system, but could also cause the equipment to tip over. The presence of teeth makes efficient excavation possible, enabling "breaking large with small." (II) Material Control and Efficiency Guarantee: The "Invisible Manager" for Improving Operational Efficiency

Excavation operations require more than just "dig and go." Material transfer must be carried out with minimal loss and ease of unloading. The efficiency of this process is also controlled by the bucket teeth.

In loading construction gravel, the uniform spacing of intact bucket teeth (8-15cm) creates a "protective barrier," resulting in a leakage rate of only 3%-5%, or 0.3-0.5 loads per 10 loads. However, when bucket teeth are worn over 40%, with shortened tooth tips and increased spacing, the leakage rate soars to 18%-25%, resulting in 1.8-2.5 loads of material wasted per 10 loads. This not only increases operation time but also leads to material accumulation on the construction site, resulting in additional cleanup costs. In operations involving sticky materials, such as river dredging, the smoothness of the bucket teeth is crucial to efficiency. High-quality bucket teeth are polished to a surface roughness of Ra ≤ 1.6μm, leaving only 5%-8% of clay in the bucket after discharge, eliminating the need for frequent cleaning. Worn bucket teeth, however, have a surface roughness of Ra ≥ 6.3μm, resulting in a 30%-40% residue, necessitating high-pressure water jet flushing every three to four excavations. This increases cycle time from 20 seconds to 40 seconds, effectively halving efficiency.

More importantly, some bucket teeth incorporate a screening function. Through a diversion channel design, the teeth simultaneously separate the clay while excavating the sand and gravel mixture. For example, in highway paving operations, sand and gravel that meet the required particle size can be directly screened, eliminating the need for a dedicated screening process and reducing operation time by 30%. This "one tooth, multiple functions" design transforms this small component into an accelerator for overall operational efficiency.