Research on the Wear Characteristics of the Hook Teeth of Cotton Pickers

Abstract

As a key core component of cotton pickers, the spindle is prone to wear of the hook teeth. This research explores the wear characteristics of the spindle hook teeth of cotton pickers under different working areas. The sampled spindles were cut, the element composition and hardness of the spindle hook tooth coating and substrate were determined, the surface morphology of the spindle hook tooth was characterized, and its wear area and coating thickness were extracted. Results show that the main constituent elements of the coating and substrate are Cr and Fe, respectively, the hardness of the coating is about 1020 HV0.1, and the hardness of the substrate is 470~840 HV0.1. During the field operation, scratches appeared on the surface of the coating, the coating thickness layer gradually decreased, and the coating peeled off as the operating area increased. Afterward, scratches and oxidized particles appeared on the surface of the substrate, the wear rate accelerated, and the wear area gradually increased. The wear of the spindle hook teeth started to appear from the front and rear tooth tips up to the tooth edge, the back of the tooth, and the doffering edge, hence forming a long boot-shaped wear area.