# Process Optimization and Wear Performance of Plasma-Cladding Fe5 Coatings on Rotary Tillage Blades
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Field Test  
To evaluate the wear-resistance performance of the optimized Fe5 cladding layer in actual field conditions, a field wear test of rotary tiller blades was conducted at the Yinchang Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative in Shashi Town, Liuyang City, Hunan Province, as shown in Figure 10. The test utilized a 2 BYG-230 rapeseed rotary tiller-fertilizer-seeder with a working width of 2.3 m. Four cladded rotary tiller blades were alternately installed on the blade roller of the rotary tiller for comparison with the original blades in the same installation plane. After the test, the blades were rinsed with clean water, dried, and weighed using an electronic scale. The results are presented in Table 7 and Figure 11.  
The change in wear from the field test indicates that the wear of the cladded rotary tiller blades is significantly lower than that of the uncladded blades, demonstrating that the cladding layer effectively protects the cutting edge of the rotary tiller blades. As the wear test progressed, the position of the cladding layer became the new cutting edge, slowing down the wear process, as evidenced by the gradually decreasing slope of the wear curve for the cladded blades. According to the results in Table 7, the average wear of the cladded rotary tiller blades was 64.5 g, which was 24.5% less than the 85.5 g of the uncladded blades. Table 7 presents the wear data from the field test. Identical numbers indicate that the two types of rotary tillage blade were installed on the same rotational plane, while different numbers reflect varying degrees of wear, which can be attributed to differences in installation positions as well as the driving habits of tractor operators. Specifically, when the tractor is operated in a circular trajectory, the rotary tillage kn  
Figure 9: (**a**) Microstructure of the wear track for the samples observed by SEM: (**a**) with an Fe5 coating; (**b**) without the coating.  
ends of the blade roller experience greater wear compared to those installed in the middle section. The coefficients of variation for the two groups were 4.45% and 6.04%, respectively, indicating a low degree of data dispersion, which suggested high stability and aligned with the actual conditions of the experiment, thereby ensuring statistical reliability.  
Figure 12 shows the macroscopic morphological changes in the wear of the rotary filler blades. The wear primarily concentrated on the positive cutting edge and the bent corner of the blades, indicating that reinforcing these areas is appropriate. The presence of the cladding layer significantly protected the relative integrity of the cutting edge, extending the service life of the rotary filler blades and ensuring their continued effective soil cutting and throwing functions under long-term operating conditions. The operational area of the  
Figure 11: Wear loss curves of the 65 Mn rotary tillage blade and the blade with the plasma-cladding Fe5 coatings in the field test.  
Figure 10: Equipment and environment for the field test.  
rotary tiller was 130 mu (approximately 8.67 hectares), with a tractor output shaft speed of 760 r/min, a forward speed of the implement ranging from 5 to 8 km/h, soil firmness of 1200 kPa, and soil moisture content of 20%.