Influence of local soil conditions on mouldboard ploughshare abrasive wear

A major problem related to use of tillage equipment is ploughshare wear due to abrasion by soil hard particles, as it seriously affects tillage quality and agricultural production economy. In the present study it is attempted to relate ploughshare cutting edge wear to soil conditions, such as hardness of the soil particles, moisture content and particle granular cornposition, plough conditions and share surface hardness. Soil moisture exerts a stronger effect upon wear than soil type characterized by its granular composition and an increase in the former decreases wear, with sandy soil as the exception. Wear increases, as plough area or plough time increases. A strong correlation was detected between soil type and share wear for different values of share hardness. Useful predictive regression models were developed, when possible, towards wear reduction by selection of appropriate tillage factors resulting to prolonged effective use of shares for the aforementioned cases. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.