Strong soil-tool adhesion on soil-engaging components is a key factor leading to the energy consumption and agricultural tool damage in agriculture tillage. A number of chemical and physical strategies have been widely proposed to eliminate soil-tool adhesion, but subjecting to limited anti-soil capabilities. In this work, we present an earthworm-inspired matter-repellent surface by stably grafting dimethyl dimethoxy silicane and infusing silicone oil, allowing for a superior resistance to soil-steel adhesion in an eco-friendly mode. The presence of such coating enables a theoretical adhesion work reduction by 10 times, thereby resulting in robust repellency to stick soil. Furthermore, the influence of water fraction in soil, adhesion velocity, and adhesion angle on the anti-soil performance of matter-repellent surfaces are fully revealed to guide its potential application in agricultural tools. It is anticipated that incorporating our matter-repellent coating into soil-engaging components is beneficial to the development of agricultural machinery.

To address the issue of high fracture and wear failure rates caused by the lack of toughness and abrasion resistance in the steel used for soil-engaging components of tillage machinery, a novel composite heat treatment process, normalizing and intercritical quenching and tempering (NIQT), is proposed. By regulating the austenitizing heating temperature in the intercritical area (ferrite/austenite two-phase area), the type, content, and distribution of phases in the 27MnCrB5 test sample could be precisely controlled, which further influenced the mechanical properties of the material. The results demonstrated that a multiphase composite microstructure, predominantly consisting of martensite and ferrite, could be obtained in the 27MnCrB5 steel treated by the NIQT process. The results of an EBSD test indicated that the predominant type of grain boundary following the NIQT heat treatment was a high-angle grain boundary (approximately 59.5%), which was favorable for hindering crack propagation and improving the impact toughness of the material. The results of the mechanical tests revealed that, when the quenching temperature was set to 790 degrees C, the 27MnCrB5 steel attained excellent comprehensive mechanical properties, with a tensile strength of 1654 MPa, elongation of 10.4%, impact energy of 77 J, and hardness of 530 HV30. Compared with conventional heat treatment processes for soil-engaging components, this novel process has the potential to enhance the performance of soil-engaging components and prolong their service life.