Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute are testing a carbon coating that would harden modern plowshares. Seems trivial, but with world food supplies just a few years away from crisis and arable land becoming scarce, such small innovations are necessary.
The carbon coating that’s supposed to improve efficiency is called DLC or Diamond Like Caron. That’s because it’s so hard, it cuts through the soil with less resistance than a traditional plow.
Seen above is a rather unassuming arrowhead. Actually it’s not. It’s a plow blade coated in the magic DLC.
The rather bad news is this new breed of plow technology is still being tested. Since DLC is just a coating, it can only be used for a finite amount of time before it weakens. What the Fraunhofer guys are itching to accomplish is to find the right kind of steel that complements DLC, thereby creating a super plow.
The positive effects of employing such super plows in farms is faster work, less strain on machinery, and energy conservation. This indicates that, in the greater scheme of things, a better plow’s biggest boost comes form its ripple effect. Ripple effects that ripple far and wide and hopefully improve our food supply in the process.
Source Gizmag