Study on Damage Mechanism and Crack Growth of the Corn Grain

The mechanical harvesting process of the corn grain is a complex movement system. The grain is damaged and broken under force, which seriously affects the quality of the harvest. It is a hot spot in the research of the mechanical threshing to determine the mechanism of damage of the grain under force. According to the actual proportion of powdery endosperm, horny endosperm and embryo, the finite element analysis model of the corn grain was established in this study. Through the numerical simulation and the physical extrusion experiment, the stress-strain curves of the corn grains under pressure in different directions were obtained. And the damage limit of the corn grains under different pressures and different moisture content, the condition of the damage and the direction of crack extension were determined. The damage mechanism of the corn grains was revealed, and the law of crack propagation was obtained.