Determination of abrasion resistance of Fe28Cr5C1Mn coating applied to 30MnB5 boron alloy cultivator blades via electric arc spray

Abstract

The poor abrasive wear behavior of agricultural machinery affects the farmers all over the world, rendering their activities more inefficient and negatively affecting their productivity. Therefore, innovation in the manufacture of soil cultivation machinery and the selection of wear-resistant materials has been of great importance. Recently, boron alloys, in particular, have been used in the manufacture of machinery parts that work the soil. The aim of this was to investigate the behavior of the blades of the machines widely used in soil cultivation in agricultural production following a surface treatment technique. For this purpose, the blades made of 30MnB5, a material widely used in the production of cultivator blades, were used as substrate samples in the trials as well as blades of the same substrate coated with Fe28Cr5C1Mn alloy wire via the electric arc spray technique. The morphologies and structures of the uncoated and coated samples were comprehensively analyzed by light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry and X-ray diffraction. In addition, their microhardness, porosity, and surface roughness properties were assessed separately before and after plowing. These prepared blades were tested under in the same conditions by plowing the same field at two different soil moisture. Although the weight loss was measured as 9.4 g and 5.4 g in the uncoated and in the coated sample at 9% moisture level, respectively, the weight losses were at 14% humidity level were 10.6 g and 5.9 g in the uncoated and coated samples, respectively. Although the amount of wear increased with increasing humidity levels in both groups, the mass wear loss in cultivator blades coated with Fe25Cr5C1Mn alloy wire was found to be lower in all trials. The results suggest that coating the cultivator blades using electric arc spray would increase agricultural productivity and reduce factors that cause environmental pollution.