Modeling wear of different surface layers of agricultural tools in soil abrasive mass

Uniform quantitative measures have not been developed to identify the areas with the greatest intensification of tool wear. Therefore, this paper developed original approach to assess the wear of cutting elements by identifying the intensity of local volumetric wear. A tribological test was conducted under natural operating conditions in two soil types: sandy loam and loam. The specimens were mounted on a 9-tined cultivator with spring tines aggregated with an agricultural tractor. A method was developed to discretise the local volume changes of a component using surface scanning models developed from 3D scanning. The notion of the rake angle has been defined, allowing the assessment of changes in the shape of the element during wear. The practical usefulness of the developed method was verified on three types of surface layers, i.e. 38GSA steel, ELHARD70 deposited on it, and a G10 layer of carbide. For each of the tested variants, local volumetric consumption was defined based on the identification of the wear grid. These should be the basis for developing the technology of surface strengthening of elements. The work confirmed the complexity of the process of wear of working elements in natural soil conditions, presented in many research works. A different course of wear of the 38GSA steel and the Elhard 70 weld layer was shown, depending on the type of treated soil. In the case of samples made of G10 cemented carbide, the largest volumetric wear for heavy soil occurred outside the place of reinforcement application. The highest volumetric wear in the front zone was recorded for 38GSA steel in heavy soil. Wear results from the modelling are similar to those obtained from the experiment under natural conditions in light soil using the nominal model (CAD) and the actual friction surface.