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Impact Toughness of Mower Blades
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English
Abstract
The purpose of this work is to improve the safety and durability of agricultural and off highway rotary cutter blades. Field experience has resulted in specifying low blade hardness to prevent catastrophic impact failure and the obvious safety concerns. However, low hardness reduces yield strength and increases failures from bending, fatigue and wear. To develop a relationship between impact toughness and blade performance in the field, we chose to examine the material mechanical property of notched impact toughness as measured by the ASTM E-23 Charpy V-notch Impact Test. The first part of this work was to do a survey of the industry for charpy notched impact toughness on commercially available blades. The results showed a wide range of hardness and charpy toughness. Impact testing also showed that impact toughness can be controlled to higher minimum values than previously available. The variables studied indicate that the microstructure produced in the heat treat process has the largest influence on toughness. Also, recent field experience indicates that material above the industry average appears to be a safe toughness level for most applications. This suggests blades with more resistance to bending, fatigue and wear can be produced at safe toughness levels.
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Citation
Turner, D., "Impact Toughness of Mower Blades," SAE Technical Paper 941737, 1994, https://doi.org/10.4271/941737.Also In
References
- “ASAE Standards 1992” ASAE Standard: S474 Agricultural Rotary Mower Safety American Society of Agricultural Engineers St. Joseph, MI 1992 265
- “ASAE Standards 1992” ASAE Standard: ANSI/ASAE S483 Rotary Mower Blade Ductility Test American Society of Agricultural Engineers St. Joseph, MI 1992 278
- “Annual Book of ASTM Standards” E 23 - 91a Standard Test Methods for Notched Bar Impact Testing of Metallic Materials American Society for Testing and Materials Philadelphia, PA 1991 03.01
- Krauss G. “Steels: Heat Treatment And Processing Principals” ASM International Materials Park, OH 1990