Design of Bionic Saw Blade for Corn Stalk Cutting

The serrated incisors of grasshopper [Chondracris rosea rosea (De Geer)] possess an advantageous capacity for cutting plant fiber. Inspired by this special geometrical structure of incisors, bionic saw blade was designed and manufactured. MATLAB software digital image processing technology was used to obtain outer margin profile from stereomicroscope photograph of the serrated incisors. The outer margin profile of incisors was fitted and expressed by six-order polynomial function. To compare the cutting capacity of bionic and traditional saw blades, the internodes of dry corn stalks were cut perpendicularly. Cutting force-deformation characteristics were obtained by universal testing machine. The results of cutting experiments show that the maximum cutting force of bionic saw blade was 128.26 N, which is 15.87% lower than 152.45 N of traditional saw blade; the average cutting force of bionic saw blade was 51.56 N, which is 28.17% less than 71.78 N of traditional saw blade. Meanwhile, the cutting energy consumption of bionic saw blade was 8.95 J, which is 12.85% less than 10.27 J of traditional saw blade. Overall, the bionic saw blade can lead to noticeable reduction of the cutting force and energy. These results will be helpful for designing cutting elements of corn stalk harvesting, biomass size reduction and other processing machinery.