Authors : S.I. Manuwa and L.A. Afolabi
Abstract: A lot of problems have been encountered in the use and maintenance of imported agricultural machinery for crop production in Nigeria, especially the tillage implements. Many appeared not to be suitably designed for certain soils in our country by their poor performance characteristics. There is also increasing need to design and develop soil engaging tools and implements to be able to meet increasing demand for food production. It has therefore become necessary, to evaluate soil/implement design parameters that are often necessary in the design of such tools and implements. Such parameters include soil friction and adhesion. Laboratory investigations were carried out to evaluate friction characteristics of solid materials on sandy clay loam soils. On analyses of data collected the Coefficient of Soil-Interface Friction (CSIF) was obtained for the different solid materials. The major equipment used in the investigation was the sliding shear apparatus. The solid materials investigated were Rubber (RUB), Smooth Steel (SST), Galvanized Steel (GAS) and Teflon (TEF). Results show that the CSIF increased with moisture content to a limit and thereafter decreased. For the materials tested, the range was: 0.28-0.43 for RUB; 0.19-0.39 for SST; 0.16-0.33 for GAS; and 0.14 0.32 for TEF. The variation of the CSIF with moisture content was best described by polynomial functions with very high coefficient of determination (R2).
S.I. Manuwa and L.A. Afolabi , 2007. Sliding Resistance of Plane Solid Materials Against Arable Soils . Research Journal of Applied Sciences, 2: 489-493.