Experimental study on flexural mechanical properties of corn stalks

Flexural mechanical properties of four kinds of corn stalks were studied on the WDW-300 type micro-control electronic universal material test machine. The load- deformation curves of corn stalks and the maximum load, elastic modulus, flexural strength and deformation value were obtained in the way of 3-point bending. The influence of varieties, cross-sectional area, growth areas and moisture content on the mechanical properties of corn stalks was analyzed. The result that the bending process can be made of linear elastic process, non-linear elastic process and bending fracture process was got. The average anti-flexural strength and elastic modulus of corn stalks are 7.85MPa and 0.15GPa. Differences of Linear elastic range and deformation value of stalks bending exist in the varieties. Under other condition of the same, a positive correlation linear relationship was founded between the maximum load and cross-sectional area of corn stalks. With the increasing of growth areas, the maximum load was decreased gradually. Test result has important guiding significance to the design of high efficiency and low energy consumption corn harvester.