Increasing the wear resistance of the working bodies of soil processing machines by nitridation in the ignition discharge

Abstract

The article considers the problem of increasing the wear resistance of the cutting elements of the working bodies of tillage machines by nitriding in a glow discharge. Solving the problem of increasing the wear resistance of the cutting elements of the working bodies of soil tillage machines reduces the resistance to cutting when tilling the soil, which helps to reduce the traction force of the unit and, in the final version, save fuel. Nitriding of the studied samples was carried out on the UATR-1 installation, designed for surface modification of parts, tools and equipment by the BATR method or similar diffusion vacuum processes. It was established that the following main mutually competing processes occur during anhydrous nitriding in a glow discharge: formation of nitrides, diffusional saturation of the surface with nitrogen, and sputtering of the surface layer. The formation of nitrides occurs at low values of the specific energy flow, the surface sputtering process is activated at high voltage values, and the current density is responsible for nitrogen diffusion into the depth of the metal. The structure and phase composition of nitrided layers is determined by a combination of regime and energy parameters. The ability to control the energy parameters of the armored personnel carrier allows you to significantly expand the area of obtaining nitrided layers with predetermined operational characteristics of parts of machines and equipment while simultaneously reducing the energy consumption of the nitriding process. The research results showed that the amount of wear of a nitrided tool, compared to a non-nitrided one, decreased by 25-40%.