Some Physical and Mechanical Properties of Sugarcane Trash Relating to the Criteria Design of a Sugarcane Trash Chopping Machine

Abstract

The physical and mechanical properties of sugarcane leaves were necessary for the design consideration of the relating storage, handling and processing equipment. The sugarcane trash at moisture contents of 23.40 and 73.91 % w.b. were used for this study. The mean length and unit weight of sugarcane trashes were 168.63 cm and 65.87 grams respectively. The average number of leaf of each sample was 4. The mean diameter of the thrash top, width and thickness increased with the increase of moisture from 23.40 and 73.91 % w.b.. The average leaf angles (β) relative to the horizontal plane of the first left leaf, second left leaf, first right leaf and second right leaf were 65.10, 73.36, 71.07 and 78.26 degrees for 73.91 % w.b., and 66.33, 73.50, 67.50 and 75.83 degrees for 23.40 % w.b. respectively. When the moisture content increased from 23.40 to 73.91% w.b., the static coefficient of friction increased from 0.30 to 0.43, 0.38 to 0.41, 0.30 to 0.37 and 0.54 to 0.66 for plywood, mild steel, galvanized iron and rubber plate respectively. The least static coefficient of friction occurred on the galvanized iron plate. The results from experimenting on mechanical properties showed that the maximum shearing force increased with the increase in moisture content from 23.40 to 73.91% w.b. respectively. The maximum shearing force was 360.15 and 457.32 N for moisture contents of 23.40 and 73.91% w.b.. The maximum tensile force decreased toward upper region of the leaf for both 23.40 and 73.91% w.b.. The results of this study would be useful for the design and optimization of the equipment associated with harvesting, threshing, chopping and processing.