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zh Spheroidal Graphite Iron (SGI) in Agricultural Machinery: A Paradigm of Durability
2024-12-31 16:20:27 hits：0
We have previously introduced what is ductile iron, which is widely used. Ductile iron exhibits excellent durability in the field of agricultural machinery, making it an ideal material for manufacturing numerous components.
Advantages of ductile iron in agricultural machinery applications
High Strength and Toughness
SGI undergoes a special spheroidizing process where graphite is distributed in a spherical shape within the matrix, effectively reducing stress concentration and significantly enhancing the material's strength and toughness. Take the engine block of a tractor as an example; an SGI-made engine block can withstand the high temperatures, high pressures, frequent vibrations, and impacts generated during engine operation, ensuring stable engine performance and extended service life.
Excellent Wear Resistance
During agricultural operations, many components come into frequent contact with soil, sand, and other hard particles, leading to severe wear. The presence of spherical graphite in SGI provides good self-lubricating properties, effectively lowering the coefficient of friction and reducing wear. According to relevant data, in comparative tests of soil-engaging parts such as plowshares, SGI plowshares exhibited a wear rate reduction of 30%-50% compared to conventional cast iron plowshares.
Outstanding Fatigue Resistance
Agricultural machinery operates in complex and variable environments, where components must endure repeated loading. The microstructure of SGI grants it exceptional fatigue resistance, maintaining stable performance under long-term alternating loads. For instance, suspension system components in agricultural implements, such as steering knuckles and suspension arms, manufactured from SGI can withstand the challenges of different terrains and loads, ensuring stable handling and ride comfort of agricultural machinery, and reducing component failures and maintenance due to fatigue.
Typical Applications of SGI in Agricultural Machinery
Tractor Engine Blocks: Tractors are the core power equipment in agricultural production, and engine blocks must endure high temperatures, high pressures, and continuous vibration and impact. SGI-made engine blocks, with their high strength and good toughness, ensure stable engine operation. For example, a tractor brand that adopted SGI engine blocks significantly extended its continuous operation time. Compared to previously used conventional cast iron engine blocks, the number of stoppages due to engine block failures within one farming season (about 500 hours) decreased from 5 to 1, greatly improving operational efficiency.
Threshing Cylinders of Combine Harvesters: During grain harvesting, threshing cylinders rotate at high speeds and undergo intense friction with large amounts of grain straw, demanding high wear resistance from the material. SGI, due to its self-lubricating properties of spherical graphite, effectively reduces the coefficient of friction and wear. Actual usage data shows that a combine harvester model equipped with an SGI threshing cylinder experienced about 40% less wear when harvesting 1,000 acres of wheat compared to the original conventional cast iron cylinder. This not only extended the service life of the component but also reduced maintenance costs and ensured harvesting progress.
Seeder Housing for Seed Drills: During seeding operations, the seeder needs to precisely control the seeding rate and frequency, and its housing must withstand mechanical impact while maintaining good dimensional stability. SGI's high strength and precise formability meet these requirements. For example, a new smart seeder adopting an SGI seeder housing operates stably in seeding operations on complex terrains, with seeding rate errors per hectare controlled within a very small range. Compared to traditional material housings, the seeding accuracy increased by 15%, providing a strong guarantee for uniform crop planting.
Impeller of Centrifugal Pumps for Irrigation: In farmland irrigation systems, centrifugal pumps operate continuously, and impellers must resist water erosion and corrosion. With appropriate surface treatment, SGI possesses sufficient mechanical strength and enhanced corrosion resistance. A large farm using centrifugal pumps with SGI impellers has operated continuously for three irrigation seasons (about 1,500 hours) with minimal impeller erosion and wear, requiring only simple maintenance. In contrast, previously used pumps with conventional cast iron impellers required impeller replacement every irrigation season, significantly saving labor and material costs and ensuring timely and stable irrigation.
In the field of SGI production, Tiegu, with its advanced technology and extensive experience, provides high-quality SGI products to the agricultural machinery industry. Tiegu strictly controls the production process, from raw material selection to melting, spheroidizing, inoculation, and other stages, ensuring product quality and performance stability. Its SGI materials are widely used in the manufacture of key components for various agricultural machinery, such as header parts of harvesters and seeder housings of seed drills, earning recognition and praise from numerous agricultural machinery manufacturers.
In summary, SGI offers significant durability advantages in agricultural machinery, and professional iron and steel production enterprises such as Tiegu, through continuous improvements in product quality and technological innovation, provide robust support for the high performance and reliability of agricultural machinery, driving the development of agricultural mechanization.
