Beau Wrobel

Kyle Mortensen

Lawnmower Blade Case Study

Description
We will be looking into a lawnmower blade for a higher end OEM use
for brands such as John Deere, Husqvarna, etc. This lawnmower blade will
also serve as a mulcher which may change which type of material to use in
the end.

Operational Conditions
This metal alloy will be subjected to various types of conditions
dependent upon where in the world it will be used. We had thought of these
few things that the blade would be subjected to fairly quickly and thought we
were lacking in the conditions it would be subjected to. Temperatures can
range from 40 degrees F to 150 degrees F. This blade will also be subjected
to chemicals and pesticides found in the grass as well as moisture and
chemicals in the outside air. The blade will also have to withstand sand, mud,
and other things that may be in the soil.
The blade itself will be subjected to different types of loads such as
impact, torsional, tensile and compressive/tensional loads. We think that the
impact load will withstand the highest load when the blade comes into
contact with unwanted materials such as rocks, roots, etc. We feel that this is
the most important property as a higher toughness in the metal selected will
add to the service life of the blade which will give our blade a better
reputation. The blade will also have to withstand rpms up to 4000 rpm which
will effect tensile and torsional loads. The blade will also have to dampen
vibrations as well until the blade can no longer be used. Another impact load
it will experience is a grinding wheel when being serviced to sharpen the
blade.

Beau Wrobel
Kyle Mortensen

Failure Modes
For our blade during standard operation, this blade could experience
plastic deformation from warping or bending from hitting objects or from
jamming up the mower deck. The blade can also fracture from hitting harder
objects such as rocks, or from corrosion. Rocks can also apply impact loads
that will not fracture the blade, but instead cause dents and Knicks which
may damage the blade beyond repair.

Manufacturing Methods
One manufacturing method and the main method to produce our
lawnmower blade is to blank, form and mill our blade. This process involves
raw coiled steel that is blanked to size which is a pressing method to press
out a specific amount of material. The shape of the blade will then be milled
to our specific dimensions then be CNC milled for finer parts such as the
blade. The blade will then go through a special heat treating process called
Austempering which will be explained in detail below. The blade then goes
through an inspection for any flaws that may occur during the previous
process. The blade will then finally go through a coating and labeling process
in which it can be coated with a wide variety of coatings to provide corrosion
resistance and surface protection from an outside provider and it will be
labeled for part numbers, logos and bar codes.
Austempering is a heat treating process for medium-to-high carbon
ferrous metals which produces a metallurgical structure called bainite. It is
used to increase strength, toughness, and reduce distortion. Parts are heated
to the hardening temperature, then cooled rapidly enough to a temperature
above the martensite start temperature and held for enough time to produce
the desired bainite microstructure according to Bodycote.com. This process
is particularly useful for thinner metal materials such as lawnmower blades
as it reduces distortion, increases toughness, strength, and increases
resistance to shock.

Beau Wrobel
Kyle Mortensen

Material Properties
Required
Our lawnmower blade will require several different properties to
meet the demands of higher end OEM manufactures. These properties
include:

High Hardness
Lower Ductility
High Corrosion Resistance
Higher Tensile Strength
High Impact/Fracture Toughness
High Wear Resistance
High Modulus of Elasticity
We are looking for a hardness value around 50 HRC, tensile
strength values near 100,000 psi UTS, and several other
numbers that will be determined for the final decision matrix. We
figured that we would need a higher Modulus of Elasticity so that
the blade would not easily bend when subjected to harder
objects that may be found while mowing.

Desired
Many of our material properties are listed above in the required
but some properties that would be nice to have are:

Good Machinability
Good Weld ability
Low Mass

Decision Matrix
For our decision matrix, we found it difficult to find tabulated data for
our three metals that we selected to choose from. These metals that we
decided to choose from were 1080 steel, 5160 steel and O1 tool steel. We

Beau Wrobel
Kyle Mortensen

choose these three metals from research on what types of metals were
generally used for lawnmower blades and cutting applications. This matrix
was difficult to construct as much of the decision making was based on
generalized statistics such as the property being fair, good, medium, etc. The
data displayed below is what we could find on the steels that we choose and
the importance we felt that each property was to the application.

Propertie
s

Importa
1080

5160

O1

nce

30000

30000

30000

Elastic
Modulus
(KSI)
Yield
Strength

24000

(PSI)

84800
31

39900
13

0
60

Hardness

HRC
Mediu

HRC

HRC
Mediu

Toughness
Machineabil

Fair

10

ity

Poor

Good
Mediu

Weldability
Corrosion

Poor

Resistance
Wear

Low

Low

Low
Mediu

Resistance

Fair

Fair

The math was not necessary for our matrix as it was clear that the O1
tool steel was our clear winner. Its closest rival was the 1080 steel, which if

Beau Wrobel
Kyle Mortensen

we were to expand our business of making lawnmower blades into cheaper

markets, this would be our alloy of choice. However, the blade we are looking
to make is highest of quality and the O1 has the better material properties
for the job at hand. Before going into the decision matrix we had a sense
that some sort of tool steel would be our choice in alloy based on prior
knowledge of the differences between regular steel and tool steel and with
some of our research we found in figuring out what material properties were
needed as well as its operating environment. We discovered that O1 tool
steel is used in cutting applications like knifes, much like the 1080 steel, but
with the added benefits of tool steel such as higher hardness, toughness and
better machine-ability from what we researched.

Prototype Testing
For prototype development of our lawn mower blade we chose to only
make our prototypes out of the Austetempered O1 tool steel as it was by far
the best material for our application. In order to find the absolute limit we
can push our lawn mower blade to we decided to subject it to a series of
tests. One being a test in which the blade would be spinning at operating
RPM and it would be subjected to an impact by a granite stone much like one
that would be found in a common back yard application. This test is being
performed to test the impact toughness of the alloy along with hardness,
wear resistance and stiffness. The alloy will be tested by having a stone
dropped from a constant height and set location into the spinning blade. The
height will be constant to simulate a stationary rock being impacted,
however the location of the impact will be changed at a constant rate to test
the rigidity of the alloy at a certain point. This test will be performed until
fracture occurs, the size of the stone will be increased with each consecutive
test. The test will also be performed at temperatures varying from 30-250F.
After each test is performed before and after fracture the sharpness of the
blade will be tested to ensure the edge does not dull at an accelerated rate.

Beau Wrobel
Kyle Mortensen

Another test that will be performed on the mower blade will be subjecting
the blade to small rocks, sand and gravel in order to test the hardness and
wear resistance of the blade. This will be done by spinning the blade at
operating RPM and then pouring a set amount of rocks, gravel and sand into
it, the blades RPM will be held constant for a set amount of time with the
gravel and sand in it. After the test time is over the blade will be tested for
sharpness and for wear resistance by looking for chips in the powder coat
surface of the blade, the sharpness test would be performed by sending the
blade to an independent test company before during and after each test, to
provide quantitative date for the sharpness of the blade. Each consecutive
test will have an increased time with the sand, gravel, and stones in the
blade. This test will continue until an excessive amount of wear has been
recorded.

Bibliography
AZOM. 27 August 2012. 12 April 2015.
Bodycote. "Bodycote." n.d. bodycote.com. 15 April 2015.
eFunda. eFunda. n.d. 12 April 2015.
EngineersEdge. 1 January 2000. 12 April 2015.
Fisher Barton. "Fisher Barton South Carolina ." 1 Janurary 2015. fisherbartonsc.com.
13 April 2015 .