Modification of Grass Chopper Blade from Leaf Spring with Coconut Shell Charcoal Addition by Carburizing Treatment

Rosadila Febritasari (Institut Teknologi Nasional Malang)
Tito Arif Sutrisno (Institut Teknologi Nasional Malang)
Herlan Hafiidh Jikwa (Institut Teknologi Nasional Malang)
Dhea Rosali Berta (Institut Teknologi Nasional Malang)
I Made Pande Artayasa (Institut Teknologi Nasional Malang)
Bernadino Arsinyo Nahak (Institut Teknologi Nasional Malang)
Yohanes Yordan H. P.I (Institut Teknologi Nasional Malang)

Piston: Journal of Technical Engineering
Vol. 7 No. 2 (2024)

A grass chopper is a machine used to chop grass and soft stems. In the grass chopping process, a sharp blade is required. The current problem is the blade get wear due to repeated sharpening of the blade, resulting in a non-uniform texture of chopped grass and often found some large grass sizes. Therefore, this research focuses on blade material engineering. This research was conducted by carburizing at 700°C for 60 minutes and adding carbon from coconut shell charcoal followed by quenching using water cooling media. The blade was made from a leaf spring made of JIS-SUP 9 steel. The results showed 106% of enhancement in carbon composition after the blade was treated by carburizing. This carbon composition enhancement affects the performance of the blade, namely higher hardness as shown by a 175% increase in hardness value and a 96.4% lower wear rate than the untreated blade.