Wear of cultivator coulters reinforced with cemented-carbide plates and hardfacing

Three constructional solutions of coulters used in cultivators were assessed with regard to their wear resistance in soil. The coulters were installed on a four-beam cultivator used for cultivation of loamy-sandy soils with humidity typical for the summer season. It was found that the amount of thickness reduction of the coulters in the areas with cemented-carbide plates and padding welds was lower than that in the base-material areas. It was also found that the amount of wear of the coulters installed on the first cultivator beam was the highest and decreased on the subsequent beams. The dominating mechanism of the wear of martensitic steel was microcutting and grooving. The pad-welded material was subjected to a complex wear mechanism (dominated by microcutting). The wear mechanism of the cemented-carbide plates included characteristic stages.