Wear on soil-working components is often seen as a normal consequence of working in the ground. A ploughshare, cultivator tine or other wear part is continuously exposed to sand, soil, stones and other abrasive particles. Sooner or later, the part wears down and needs to be replaced.

But wear is more than material loss. When a ploughshare wears, the shape of the part changes as well. The point becomes shorter or blunter, the blade loses its original cutting geometry, and the plough may start behaving differently in the soil. As a result, wear affects not only the lifetime of the component, but also downtime, labour, machine load and the total cost per hectare.

A 2022 scientific article by Gulyarenko and Bembenek clearly shows why wear reduction in ploughshares is both technically and economically relevant. The authors investigated how the durability of ploughshares can be calculated and how a wear-resistant surface layer can influence that durability. The study focused on plasma hardening, but the broader lesson also applies to other forms of wear protection: the service life of a component is determined by the combination of soil conditions, load, geometry and material behaviour.

Wear reduction starts with understanding the application

The key message of the study is not simply that a harder surface lasts longer. The authors mainly show that the service life of a ploughshare can be better understood when the complete wear situation is taken into account.

Several factors play a role at the same time: soil type, soil hardness, pressure distribution on the part, working speed, cutting geometry and the wear resistance of the material. A ploughshare also does not wear evenly across the whole part. The point and the blade each have their own load conditions and rejection limits. In some cases, the point determines the end of service life, while the blade still has remaining life. In other conditions, the blade is the limiting factor.

This insight is important for wear protection. A wear layer should not be applied randomly, but targeted at the zones that are most critical in practice. The right protection in the right place can have more effect than simply making the entire component as hard as possible.

Soil type and soil pressure make a major difference

Not every soil type causes the same level of wear. In the article, sandy soil, loamy soil and clayey soil are compared. In the calculations used by the authors, sandy soil has a much higher relative wear capacity than clayey soil. This means that the same ploughshare can wear significantly faster in sandy soil than in lighter clayey soil, assuming the other conditions remain the same.

Soil hardness also plays a major role. The harder the soil, the higher the pressure on the ploughshare. That pressure is not distributed evenly over the entire part. The point is loaded differently from the blade. As a result, the same ploughshare can show very different wear behaviour under different conditions.

For practical use, this means there is no universal wear layer that performs optimally everywhere. A solution that works well in one soil type or application is not automatically the best choice in another environment. Wear reduction therefore requires alignment with the actual operating conditions.

Why a wear-resistant layer helps

Because most wear occurs at the surface, it makes sense to strengthen precisely that outer layer. A well-chosen wear layer can protect the most heavily loaded zones, allowing the component to retain its functional shape for longer.

For ploughshares, this is important because performance strongly depends on geometry. The ploughshare must continue to cut properly and penetrate the soil. When the point or blade wears too far, performance drops and the part must be replaced.

The study shows that a harder surface layer can significantly extend service life when that layer matches the load conditions of the component. In the test situation, a hardened surface layer was applied to ploughshares made of 65G steel. The hardness increased from an average of 18.2 HRC before treatment to 53.2 HRC after treatment. The hardened layer had a depth of approximately 1 to 1.8 mm.

The main point is that the layer cannot be viewed separately from the application. The improvement was not only the result of higher hardness, but of a surface layer that matched the zones where wear actually occurred.

What the study shows about service life

The authors combined calculations with field tests. In the field test, treated and standard ploughshares were used under the same conditions. After 20.5 hectares of ploughing, the standard ploughshares were worn out. At that point, the treated ploughshares still had a remaining service life of approximately 20 hectares. Based on the calculations and tests, the authors conclude that service life under the studied conditions could increase by a factor of 2 to 3, depending on soil conditions.

This is not a general guarantee that every wear layer on every component will automatically last two to three times longer. The study was carried out with a specific steel grade, a specific treatment method, specific soil conditions and a specific type of plough.

What the study does clearly support is the principle: when the wear zones are properly understood and the surface layer is matched to them, the service life of soil-cutting parts can be significantly extended.

Wear reduction lowers more than just spare part consumption

The direct saving from a longer service life is obvious: fewer replacement parts are needed. But with wear parts, that is usually not the only cost factor.

Each replacement also requires labour. Parts need to be removed, installed and checked. During that time, the machine is not working. Especially in seasonal operations, where available working windows are limited, downtime can be more costly than the part itself.

The article explicitly addresses this economic effect. The authors give an example stating that every 100 hectares of ploughing may require at least USD 70 in replacement costs, plus at least four labour hours. For Kazakhstan, they translate this into approximately USD 85 million in costs and an additional need for around three thousand machine operators.

This makes clear that wear reduction is not only a technical improvement, but also a way to control operating costs. The relevant question is therefore not only what a ploughshare costs to buy, but what it costs per hectare, including replacement, labour and downtime.

The relation with fuel consumption and machine efficiency

A worn ploughshare can influence how the machine performs. When the cutting geometry changes, soil resistance can increase. The machine then has to work harder to perform the same operation. This can affect tractor load and fuel consumption.

The study states that the durability of soil-cutting parts affects energy costs, fuel consumption, compliance with agricultural requirements and the reliability of the machine-tractor unit. The authors also state that the sharpness of soil-cutting machine blades affects fuel consumption, tractor reliability and the performance of the machine-tractor unit as a whole.

However, this requires nuance. The article does not provide a specific measurement of fuel savings in litres per hectare or in percentages. The evidence in the study mainly concerns service life extension, wear calculations, hardness measurements and field testing. The link with fuel consumption is technically and operationally supported, but not quantified separately.

The correct formulation is therefore: wear reduction can contribute to more efficient machine operation because the part retains its correct shape for longer. The exact fuel saving depends on the application and must be measured in practice.

From purchase price to total cost per hectare

With wear parts, the lowest purchase price is not always the lowest-cost solution. A component without a wear layer may be cheaper to buy, but more expensive in use if it wears faster, needs to be replaced more often and causes more downtime.

A better comparison looks at the total cost per hectare or per operating hour. Several factors should be included:

• the purchase price of the part;
• the service life in hectares or operating hours;
• the number of replacement moments;
• the labour time per replacement;
• machine downtime;
• the effect on machine load and efficiency.

If a wear-resistant layer extends service life sufficiently, the additional cost can be recovered through fewer replacements, less labour and less downtime. The study on ploughshares shows that this effect can be substantial under the conditions investigated.

Why customised wear protection remains important

A wear layer only performs well when it matches the wear mechanism. In ploughshares, wear is mainly abrasive due to soil contact, but pressure distribution, soil hardness, working speed and geometry also play an important role.

In other applications, impact, temperature cycling, corrosion or material build-up may be more important. A wear layer that performs well under dry abrasion may be less suitable under heavy impact. An extremely hard layer may be wear-resistant, but also more sensitive to cracking if the load conditions do not match.

That is why effective hardfacing does not start with the question: “How hard can we make it?” The better question is: “What type of wear is occurring here, and which layer structure matches it?”

At Geurts van Kessel Hardfacing, we therefore look at the full picture: the base material, the application, the wear mechanism, the load, the geometry and the desired service life. Based on that analysis, we determine which combination of matrix material, carbides and application method is the best fit.

Conclusion

Wear reduction in ploughshares does more than simply make parts last longer. It can also contribute to fewer replacements, less labour, less downtime and more consistent machine performance.

The study by Gulyarenko and Bembenek shows that the service life of ploughshares is strongly influenced by soil type, soil hardness, pressure distribution, working speed, geometry and the properties of the outer layer. Under the conditions investigated, a wear-resistant surface layer resulted in a service life increase of 2 to 3 times.

The most important lesson is broader than the specific treatment method studied. Wear reduction only delivers real value when the solution matches the actual operating conditions. It is not the highest hardness, but the right material behaviour under real working conditions that determines performance.

For users, this means that the real value of a wear layer is not only found in a longer part life, but in lower total operating costs: fewer replacements, less downtime and a machine that continues to work as intended for longer.