Experiments and analysis on mechanical property of corn stalk reciprocating cutting

In order to reduce the cutting force and power consumption and improve the cutting property, a cornstalk cutting test-rig composed of mechanical equipment and measurement system was developed. Then a cantilever weigh sensors, a high frequency digital acquisition card and the software of LabVIEW were applied in the measurement system. Cornstalk experiments were carried out on the test-rig. According to the measuring cutting force, the cutting power consumption were calculated, and the influence of cutting angle, cutting speed, cutting position, the epidermal and node of cornstalk on the cutting force and consumption were analyzed. The better cutting property and the smaller values of cutting force and consumption were obtained with the cutting angle closed to 20°, with the increasing of cutting position and speed, the peak cutting force and the cutting power consumption were both decreased gradually. The epidermal cutting force accounted for about 63%-83%, and the cutting force for the node increased about 56% compared with that for the internode. The research can provide theoretical basis for improving the cutting property.