Farm Implement: The innovations in agricultural engineering have progressed extremely fast during the last decades. The most important innovations take place in the materials of parts and components used in farm mechanization.
Typical agricultural equipment is made up of iron and steel, but with these modern innovations, agricultural equipment may be composed of other materials too.
Here we are going to discuss the various materials used in the composition of tractors and other farm implement.
Why Different Materials Used in Modern Farm Machinery
- To work with higher load with increased machine performance
- To Reduce soil compaction problems with lightweight design
- To resist the wear and tear problem
- To improve the lifetime of modern Farm machinery
- To design the farm machinery with ergonomics.
Material Used for Composition of Tractor and Farm Implement
- Structural steels
- Alloyed steels
- Cast materials
- Light alloys
- Wearing materials
- Synthetic materials
- Piezoelectric materials
- Shape memory alloys
- Metal matrix composite materials
Structural Steels
Structural steel is best for the load-bearing structures of farm machinery. As loads on farm machine frames have increased and as the need to reduce the weight of the farm machine this material is ideal for that type of tractor or implement.
In Many countries there are rules for ideal weight for farm equipment to reduce soil compaction problems for example In Germany the weight on a driven axle for big farm machinery is limited to 11.5 t and for smaller farm machines, such as a round baler limited up to 3 t. With the addition of carbon strength of general structural steel can be increased.
This material has a higher strength.
Alloyed Steels
In the production of tractor gear systems, this material is mostly used by many manufactures of tractors. As tensile strengths of this material up to 1200 N/mm², it allows high loads on the components made by it.
To produce small dimension gear wheels and shafts this alloyed steel must be in high-quality form. This type of material is also used in the steering axle of the self-propelled mower-conditioner.
Cast Materials
This type of material is used in different forms like flake-graphite cast iron (GG), nodular-graphite cast iron (GGG), malleable cast iron (GT), and cast steel (GS).
This type of material is used in a tractor to handle high pressure and very dusty conditions. This type of material has low wear and tear problem and it can be used without lubrication.
The lifespan of this material is also high.
Light Alloys
This type of material is crucial for the weight reduction of farm equipment as it is made up of aluminum alloys. This type of material is lighter than steel. Higher HP tractors or other farm machinery are generally heavy and this may cause soil compaction.
But with this type of material weight of farm equipment can be reduced
Wearing Materials
This type of material is used in moving parts of tractors or farm equipment. The blades and counter blades are coated with hard metal so the wearing problem may be reduced.
The tensile strength of this type of material is high so these wearing materials are harder than steel and can live for long. As this is a hard material, it makes the tractor perfect for dust conditions.
Synthetic Materials
This type of Material is used in various forms for the design of modern farm equipment. As the Tractor industry is low in the budget as compared to other automobile industries in India, paneling made by synthetic material is very useful for farm equipment.
Sometimes glass fiber reinforced plastic is also used for paneling.
Piezoelectric Materials
These types of materials are suitable to produce parts that can be shaped by applying electrical current. These materials have two unique properties which are interrelated to each other.
Piezoelectric materials give off a small but measurable electrical charge when it is deformed. when an electrical current is passed through a piezoelectric material it allows a significant increase in the size of more than 4 percent.
This type of material is already used in the automobile industry in sensors for airbags and as actuators in the injection system. In farm mechanization this type of material is useful to adapt the shape of a deep body to work in various soil conditions or working speeds by electrical current.
Shape Memory Alloys
This type of material also belongs to smart materials. The best feature in this alloy is that a phase twinned martensite is used, so with heat, the alloy is converted into another phase austenite without the component changing its size or shape.
As per the name, this alloy comes to its original shape just by heating. These alloys are used in agricultural practice in excessive load.
Metal Matrix Composite Materials
It is described as wear-resistant components. This is made by combining metallic and ceramic materials. It is used to a composite; the typical advantages of both material classes can be used.
All the above-mentioned materials were used for the construction of the tractor and other farm equipment.
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