Corn is an important economic and food crop, and the corn threshing process is an important link in the processing of corn, but the damage rate in the threshing process has always been a problem, causing difficulties in subsequent processing and storage. To address the high damage rate in corn ear threshing, a texture analyzer was used to measure the fracture force of Boyun 88 and Zhengdan 958 corn varieties in the triaxial direction, and a CT scanning imaging system was used to analyze the connection mode between the carpopodium and the corn cob. The connection between the carpopodium and corn cob, as well as the fracture process of the carpopodium, was simulated. Finally, high-speed photography was used to study the corn ear threshing process. The results indicated that the fracture force of the carpopodium under radial tension was significantly greater than that under axial and tangential shear. Additionally, the simulated fracture stress value of the carpopodium exceeded its actual fracture stress value. Under radial stress, the fracture force between the carpopodium and corn cob exhibited more uniformity on the contact surface. When a tangential load was applied, it was observed that the force chain shifted and dissipated along the axis during corn kernel extrusion. High-speed photography on a discrete test bench revealed that corn kernel dispersion, extrusion, and force transfer facilitated the movement and migration of surrounding kernels, with the force transfer process resembling a “trapezoid”. This study offers theoretical guidance for corn threshing with low damage and an analysis of the threshing process.

To solve the problems of high kernel breakage and low threshing efficiency in the threshing operation of high-moisture maize, this study designs an adaptive threshing device based on the coupled working principle of vortex airflow driving and flexible collision. The adaptive threshing mode enables maize ears to move spirally upward under vortex airflow and make compliant contact with flexible components. By adopting repeated mild collisions instead of the rigid violent impact used in traditional devices, low-damage maize threshing is achieved. Preliminary experiments verify that the layout density of flexible threshing units, tangential airflow velocity, and feeding speed are the key factors affecting threshing performance. A regression orthogonal rotational combination test is conducted to systematically explore the single-factor and interactive effects on threshing efficiency, and the optimal parameter configuration is obtained. The test results show that, under the conditions of circumferential angular spacing of 21.5°, tangential velocity of 45.9 m/s and feed rate of 0.65 kg/s, the maize threshing rate reaches 96.1% while the grain breakage rate is controlled below 0.1%, which is significantly superior to conventional rigid threshing methods. This research provides a new technical scheme and experimental data reference for the low-damage threshing study of high-moisture maize.