Effect of Cyclic Loading Treatment on the Compression Energy and Creep Properties of Machine-Harvested Seed Cotton

Machine-harvested seed cotton was taken as the research object to further clarify its creep performance, minimize its power consumption during the loading process, and obtain a better loading method. The uniaxial compression creep test was carried out using the Instron universal material test bench to apply cyclic loading treatment. The test factors included cyclic loading times, cyclic stress peak, and cyclic loading frequency. The energy consumption curve of the machine-harvested seed cotton during cyclic loading was obtained through OriginPro 2019b software, and its energy change law was analyzed. Creep strain was divided into two parts, namely, initial creep strain and creep strain increment, to elucidate the creep mechanism. The Burgers model was chosen to describe the creep strain increment. Results show that machine-harvested seed cotton exhibits energy consumption hysteresis during cyclic loading. The compression energy rapidly decreases with increasing cyclic loading times and then stabilizes. Meanwhile, the compression energy increases with increasing cyclic stress peak and cyclic loading frequency. The creep strain mechanism is also the same, which first rapidly increases and then levels off. Cyclic loading times, cyclic stress peak, and cyclic loading frequency have different effects on creep strain increment, instantaneous elastic modulus, hysteresis elastic modulus, viscosity coefficient, delay time, and relative deformation index. Finally, disregarding power consumption and interaction, extending the cyclic loading time, and increasing the cyclic stress peak while simultaneously minimizing the cyclic loading frequency can reduce the relative deformation index in the creeping stage. Accordingly, the deformation retention ability in the creep is improved, but the compression energy in the cyclic loading increases. The results can provide theoretical and data support for studying the theoretical basis of the rheological properties of machine-harvested seed cotton, the design of seed cotton baling devices, and the study of bale (mold) forming quality.