This study aims to find out whether the working parts of ploughs of different manufacturers have different wear parameters. A comparative analysis of the resource of plough points and furrow coulter knives is performed (according to changes in mass, diagonal length of working parts, etc.). Reinforced plough points wore 2.5 times less by mass, and 4.53 times less diagonal shortening than non-reinforced plough points. Plough points strengthened with carbide plates suffered less wear and less shortening before being damaged by stones. As a whole, the abrasive wear of geometrically identical and close-in-composition parts is determined by the hardness of the steels from which the part is made, and the microstructure obtained during heat treatment. The performed numerical simulation of abrasive wear showed the results of plough point thickness variation close to field experiments. The obtained normal stress diagram explains the intensity of wear on the front edge of the plough point. The proposed soil bin improvement with a zone for smaller particles helps to avoid meshed geometry deformation.

The high-speed plough tip is the core soil-touching component in southern Xinjiang field cultivation, but the interaction of the plough tip with the soil results in severe wear of the tip. The friction behaviour of sand and soil on plough tips was investigated with a homemade rotary abrasive wear tester in a one-factor multilevel test with three parameters: moisture content, velocity/rotational speed and friction distance. The objective was to study the friction behaviour of the sand soil and plough tip and analyse and characterise the wear amount, wear thickness and compressive stress distribution, three-dimensional wear morphology and microscopic wear morphology of the plough tips. The results show that with increasing speed, the wear amount changes more gently; with increasing soil water content, the soil adhesion force and lubricating water film increase so that the wear amount follows a second-order parabolic law; and with increasing friction distance, the wear amount gradually increases, and the wear rate also shows an upward trend when the plough tip is in the abrasive wear stage. The tip makes contact with the firmer soil with higher surface compressive stresses, causing the most wear. As the friction distance increases, sand particles become embedded in the contact surfaces, creating a groove effect along with spalling pits caused by fatigue wear. During the whole wear period, the groove effect is always accompanied by spalling pits appearing repeatedly. The analysis of the wear micromorphology of the plough tip shows that the number of flaking pits gradually decreases in the direction of soil movement, and the form of damage changes from impact wear to plough groove scratches. Abrasive wear interacts with corrosive wear to exacerbate plough tip wear.

The tribological process between the tillage tools and the soil is quite complex. Wear on tillage tools changes depending on the material of the tool, opposing material (soil), environment (moisture, temperature), and dynamic factors (stress on sliding surface, sliding time, sliding speed, and sliding type). Chemical composition, microstructure, and mechanical properties of the material from which the tools are made; soil properties such as texture, structure, density, moisture, rock and gravel content; operating conditions such as tillage speed and depth; geometry and surface roughness of the tool, and impact angle with the soil are effective on wear. It is generally accepted that tillage tools go through low-tensioned and two-body abrasive wear. The ratio between the hardness of the tools (Hs) and the hardness of the abrasive soil particles (Ha) determines wear mechanisms. When this ratio is lower than 0.8, microcutting and microplowing mechanisms are dominant. Meanwhile, when the hardness value of the tool's surface is close to or higher than the hardness value of the soil particles, microcracks, fragmentation, and peel-off of the hard phases occur. Therefore, hardness alone may not be sufficient to ensure tribological performance, and hardness and toughness should be balanced since tillage tools are exposed to movements such as impacts.