Coating of cage wheel lugs to reduce soil adhesion

Abstract

Cage wheel blocking with mud is a serious impediment to vehicle mobility in wetland rice fields in Asia, most of which have heavy clay soils. In order to find a suitable coating material on a lug surface to reduce soil sticking to the lugs, experiments were conducted in a laboratory soil bin in wet Bangkok clay soil. The lug surface was coated with various materials, all readily available in the region, viz. lead oxide paint, silicone lubricant oil, gloss paint, gloss apint and varnish, ceramic tile, Teflon tape and sheet, chromium plating and enamel plating to find a practical method of reducing clay soil adhesion to the lugs. Results showed that the coating of a lug surface significantly affected the soil adhesion. The most promising coating seems to be enamel plating and further experiments are being carried out to determine the practicality of this method.