# Process Optimization and Wear Performance of Plasma-Cladding Fe5 Coatings on Rotary Tillage Blades
## 1 Introduction  
The working environment of agricultural tillage machinery is harsh, and its critical components often suffer from wear failure due to their poor wear resistance when in frequent contact with hard particles such as stones and sand in soil [1, 2]. Excessive wear leads to significant material loss [3] and rapidly increasing fuel costs [4]. Wear also degrades the operational quality; for instance, when the diameter of a disc furrower wears by more than 12-14 mm, it should be replaced. Excessive wear can result in insufficient plantingdepth and improper seed placement, directly affecting planting outcomes [5]. Currently, the overall performance of materials used in soil-contacting components is insufficient to meet the demands of continuous short-term operation in harsh soil conditions [6]. For example, the service life of a rotary tiller blade is typically 25-30 \(\mathrm{hm^{2}}\) per blade in normal clay soil, but it is only 3.3-5.5 \(\mathrm{hm^{2}}\) per blade in sandy soil [7]. Frequent part replacement not only increases maintenance costs but also reduces agricultural productivity [8; 9]. Therefore, research on advanced manufacturing technologies to enhance the wear resistance of soil-contacting components in agricultural machinery is of great significance. Currently, there are primarily three methods to address the issue of poor wear resistance of the soil-contacting components of agricultural machinery: complete replacement of the current manufacturing materials [10], redesigning the structure of the soil-engaging components [11], and enhancing the wear resistance of the surface through surface modification techniques. In recent years, surface modification techniques have gained increasing attention with regard to extending the service life and improving the wear resistance of soil-contacting components due to their simplicity, low cost, and suitability for automated mass production. These techniques can significantly enhance the mechanical properties of workpieces, with methods such as surface welding [12; 13], surface cladding [14; 15], surface spraying [16; 17], and chemical heat treatment [18] being the primary means to improve the wear resistance of the workpiece surfaces. [PERSON] [19] employed plasma-hardening technology to harden plowshares and proposed a method for calculating their durability. The durability of the plowshares treated with plasma-hardening technology was found to increase by approximately 2.6 times. [PERSON] [20] used manual metal arc welding (MMAW) to deposit Fe-Cr and Fe-Mo coatings on plowshares to enhance their abrasive wear resistance. The results indicated that variables such as the shape, size, distribution, and matrix structure of the hard alloy significantly influenced its wear resistance. Due to the formation of M\({}_{23}\)C\({}_{6}\) and M\({}_{7}\)C\({}_{3}\) carbides in the hard surface layer, the Fe-Cr alloy coating exhibited higher wear resistance than that of the Fe-Mo alloy coating. [PERSON] [21] performed wear-resistant reinforcement on plowshare parts through overlay welding of Fe-C-Cr-Nb-Mo-W-B alloy coatings. The experimental results showed that the wear rate of the plowshares after overlay welding was only one-sixth of that before treatment. [PERSON] [18] investigated the effect of carburizing processes on the wear resistance of high-speed hydraulic reversible plowshare components. The results demonstrated that the near-surface microhardness of the plowshares increased by 56% after carburizing treatment, while the yield strength and tensile strength improved by 16% and 20%, respectively. The average friction coefficient decreased by about 22% compared with QT-state plowshares, and the wear volume reduction was 37% after cultivating 120 hectares. [PERSON] [13] studied the impact of hot stamping and plasma-cladding welding on the abrasive wear of plowshares. The results showed that the weight loss during the wear of plowshares treated with plasma-cladding welding was reduced by 88.17% compared with conventionally heat-treated plowshares.