Sliding Cutting and Cutting Parameters of Concentric Curvilineal Edge Sliding Cutter for Caragana korshinskii (C.K.) Branches

Abstract

To realize the reduction in cutting force and guarantee pruning section quality in the pruning and stubble work of Caragana korshinskii (C.K.), a concentric curvilineal edge sliding cutter was proposed and the related cutting characteristics were studied. The impacts of branch diameter (D), cutting speed (Vc), blade wedge angle (β), cutting clearance (c) and moisture content (W) on peak torque (T) and cutting energy (E) with this cutter were explored in single-factor tests. On the basis of the Box—Behnken principle, a multi-factor test was further conducted based on the single-factor tests with Vc, β and c as influencing factors and with T and E as targets, and a regression model was established. Test results indicate that the peak torque (T) increases with the increase in D and β and reduces with the growth of Vc and W; with the increase in c, it reduces first and then rises; the cutting energy (E) increases with the growth of D and β, declines with the increase in W and diminishes first and then rises with the increase in Vc and c. The optimal parameter combination of the regression model was obtained with Vc of 2.16 rad/s, β of 20° and c of 1.0 mm, which resulted in a T of 17.25 N·m and P of 7.03 J. The discrepancies between the observed and forecasted values for T and E are 0.87% and 5.004%. New cutting tool and data support for the development of subsequent C.K. branch stubble equipment can be obtained with this new sliding cutter.