Effect of Electro-spark Coating on Wear Loss of Rotavator Blades

Rotavator has been increasingly used in agricultural fields. Under abrasive conditions for ground engaging tools, rotavator blades require frequent replacement resulting to increasing machine downtime and maintenance cost. Electric spark coating (ESC) technique was evaluated on two different commercially available blades with tungsten carbide, Stellite-21 and chromium carbide coating materials to improve their life. Coating materials were applied with three different thicknesses on the blades. Wear loss of the second blade with tungsten carbide 4^th mode treatment was about 0.80% per hour less than the other treatments for both blades. Hardness (58.33 HRA) of the second blade with chromium carbide 4^th mode treatment was highest among all treatments and blades. The build-up height with chromium carbide 6^th mode treatment was 160.8 μm.