BY DRAGO PARASCHIV, EUGEN ENCULESCU, ION ANTONESCU, SORIN POPA, SILVIU LUNGU, CONSTANTIN ROTARIU

DREVAARC 400

The functional elements affecting the wear condition of a cutting tool can be divided in four major groups:
1. The stalk plant physical properties, 2. The interface conditions, 3. The cutting tool parameters, 4. The dynamic characteristics of the agricultural machine.

The main causes of tool wear are:

Hard particle wear (abrasive wear). Adhesive wear. Diffusion wear. Chemical corrosion. Microbiological corrosion. Fracture wear.

The result is a variety of wear patterns and scars which can be found at a closer look at the blades facet and on the flanks of the teeth:
Crater wear; Flank wear; Notch wear; Chipping; Ultimate failure.

CUTTING BLADES

TRUPITE

SEM MACHINE

THE SOLID MODEL OF THE BLADE

THE RESTRAINTS FOR THE FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

The blade was considered stiff restrained on the inner surface of the rivet holes

THE LOADS FOR THE FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

The model of the blade was subjected to two hypothesis of charge in the contact zone of the blades teeth with the stalk of the plant:

Normal reaction at the median plane.

Normal reaction to the teeth facets.

THE RESULTS OF THE FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATION FOR RAPESEED HARVESTING

The predicted stress and strain distribution of the blade model:

For the normal reaction at the median plane.

For the normal reaction to the teeth facets.

THE WEAR PATTERN OF A TYPICAL BLADE AFTER A SIX MONTHS HARVESTING CAMPAIGN

COMPARISON BETWEEN UNCOATED BLADES AND (TIN) COATED BLADES

The new blades before mounting on the combine harvester

Uncoated blades.

(TiN) coated blades.

The same blades after a six months period harvesting campaign

Uncoated blades.

(TiN) coated blades.

We have measured the wear along the edges of the blades using a photometric scheme .

Uncoated blades

(TiN) coated blades

The recorded patterns of wear for the two sets of blades

The wear height diagrams along the right edges for the two sets of blades

Uncoated blades

(TiN) coated blades

THE MAXIMUM HEIGHTS OF THE WEAR

6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 h max [mm] h med. [mm] 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 7 6 5 4 h max [mm] h med. [mm]

Uncoated blades
Uncoated blades [mm] 3.111 3.480 4.090 4.941 5.303 3.111 Medium max. height: 2.629

(TiN) coated blades

(TiN) coated blades [mm] 1.229 1.333 2.169 2.556 5.860 1.229 Medium max. height: 4.185

CONCLUSIONS
We can observe a certain degree of accordance between the finite element simulation of stress and strain fields on the solid model of the blade and the wear pattern of blades recorded along a six months period harvesting campaign. Both of the zones in which the maximum stresses and strains were indicated considering the reaction normal to the median plane of the blade (contact zone of the teeth with the stem) and the reaction normal to the teeth facets (the zone of the ending teeth and of the rivet holes) presented a higher wear rate recorded along a six months period harvesting campaign. We have also noticed from the comparative wear study between the two sets of five uncoated blades and five (TiN) coated blades mounted on the same combine harvester along a six month period harvesting campaign, that the (TiN) coating increases the durability of the blades with almost 63%. We have also noticed that the wear pattern of (TiN) coated blades is much smoother and the occurrence of catastrophic ruptures is much reduced then in the case of the uncoated blades.