Tribotechnical Properties of Materials for Cultivator Sliding Bearings

Agricultural machinery is stated to break down mainly due to the wear of structural parts. Thus, there is a necessity to apply new materials for manufacturing individual machine units whose characteristics will not be inferior to those of their prototypes. The paper primarily focuses on the components that work in movable joints, in particular, on the sleeve type bronze plain bearings which are exposed to high wear and often need replacing. The use of polymers for manufacturing such parts is supposed to solve the problem of untimely failure of machine components. (Research purpose) To compare the tribotechnical properties of cultivator sliding bearings made of bronze and polyamide. (Materials and methods) Two samples were made: one was made of the sliding bearing (BrO10F1 grade bronze) of the SunGarden GT10 cultivator, the other – of a PA-6 polyamide type rod. Special equipment was used such as: X-ray fluorescence spectrometer Thermo Scientific Niton XL3t 900 GOLDD+, TRB-S-DE Tribometer CSM Instruments. (Results and discussion) Comparative tribotechnical ball-disk tests were carried out. It was found out that polyamide sample has certain advantages over a bronze standard: it has a 4-times better friction coefficient and a 12-times better wear intensity. (Conclusions) It was determined that the use of polymer plain bearings will result in 2 times longer service life of agricultural cultivators and their 1.5 times increased efficiency.