Strengthening Thin-Walled Knives with Nitrogen Plasma

Introduction. The completed developments are aimed at creating a new technology for increasing the wear resistance of a thin-walled instrument of complex configuration made of steel 65G for cutting beets at sugar enterprises. The most important requirement to improve the operability and durability of such a tool is the preservation of its profile and cutting edge during operation. Materials and Methods. A new developed equipment and technological process of strengthening using low-temperature nitrogen plasma were used to solve this problem. There have been determined optimal processing parameters that ensure the formation of a quasi-morphic structure on the friction surface that reduces the defectiveness of the cutting edge after its machining and also provides a process of self-sharpening due to tool strengthening on one side. Results. The comparative studies of the friction surface of products after operational tests have shown that their resistance increase significantly when strengthening both new and used products. This is determined by the nature of the quasi-morphic structure formed and the specific relief in friction on the working surface. Discussion and Conclusion. To describe the new process of strengthening thin-walled products, the structure formation on the friction surface was analyzed in detail with the use of metallographic images and its phase relationship variability was estimated by the optic-mathematical analysis of various zones (compression and vacuum) formed as friction bands. This was done trough modeling with the estimation of the distribution density of the conditional colors of the analyzed fragments.