Key Factors in Choosing Crusher Tooth Plate Material

Wear Resistance
During crusher operation, the tooth plates constantly rub against the material, making wear resistance the primary consideration when selecting a tooth plate material. Highly wear-resistant materials can reduce tooth plate wear, extend their service life, and reduce replacement frequency, thereby increasing the crusher’s continuous operating time and productivity.
A common material with excellent wear resistance is high manganese steel. When subjected to impact loads, high manganese steel rapidly undergoes work hardening on its surface, significantly increasing its hardness and enhancing its wear resistance. This property makes high manganese steel tooth plates excellent when handling hard and impact-resistant materials such as iron ore and limestone. However, when the material is less hard and the impact is minimal, the work hardening effect of high manganese steel is less pronounced, and its wear resistance advantage is not fully realized.
Another commonly used wear-resistant material is alloy cast iron. Alloy cast iron significantly improves its wear resistance by adding alloying elements such as chromium, molybdenum, and nickel to ordinary cast iron. Chromium forms hard and brittle carbides that are distributed within the cast iron matrix, providing wear resistance. Molybdenum enhances the strength and toughness of cast iron, while also enhancing its wear resistance. Nickel improves the structure and properties of cast iron, further enhancing its wear resistance. Alloy cast iron teeth are suitable for processing medium-hard materials such as gangue and shale.

Toughness

When crushing materials, the teeth of a crusher not only withstand friction but also impact. If the tooth material lacks toughness, it is prone to fracture under significant impact, resulting in damage and disrupting the crusher’s normal operation. Therefore, while ensuring wear resistance, the tooth material must also possess a certain degree of toughness.

High manganese steel not only offers excellent wear resistance but also possesses high toughness. This allows the high-manganese steel teeth to absorb energy when subjected to large impact loads, preventing failure due to brittle fracture. However, when the carbon content of high-manganese steel is too high, its toughness decreases. Therefore, in actual production, the chemical composition of high-manganese steel must be strictly controlled to achieve a balance between wear resistance and toughness.

New composite materials are also emerging, aiming to balance wear resistance and toughness. For example, in ceramic particle-reinforced metal matrix composites, the ceramic particles possess extremely high hardness and wear resistance, while the metal matrix provides good toughness. Die plates made of this composite material can fully leverage the advantages of both materials in complex working conditions, ensuring a long service life in high-wear environments while also being resistant to breakage under impact.

Corrosion Resistance

In some special crushing environments, crusher teeth may come into contact with corrosive materials or media, such as acidic ores and humid, corrosive gases. In such situations, the corrosion resistance of the tooth plate material is particularly important. If the tooth plate is not corrosion-resistant, contact with corrosive substances will gradually erode it, resulting in pitting and flaking on the tooth plate surface, reducing its crushing efficiency and service life. Stainless steel, due to its alloying elements such as chromium and nickel, forms a dense oxide film on its surface, providing excellent corrosion resistance. For processing materials containing corrosive elements, such as ore crushing in hydrometallurgy, stainless steel teeth are a good choice. However, stainless steel’s wear resistance is relatively weak, and in actual applications, surface treatment or other methods may be needed to enhance its wear resistance to meet the operating requirements of the crusher.

Cost Factor

Cost is also a key factor that cannot be ignored when selecting a material for crusher teeth. Different tooth materials vary in raw material costs, processing costs, and operating costs. While some high-performance materials offer improved wear, impact, and corrosion resistance, they are often more expensive. When choosing a material, companies should consider their own production scale, production efficiency, and cost control factors to select the most cost-effective tooth material while ensuring the proper operation of the crusher and ensuring production efficiency.

For example, while high-manganese steel offers excellent overall performance, it is relatively expensive, which may increase production costs for small companies or crushers with smaller processing volumes. Ordinary cast iron, while relatively inexpensive, suffers from poor wear resistance and toughness, resulting in a short service life. Frequent tooth plate replacement also incurs certain costs. Therefore, companies need to balance material performance with cost based on their specific circumstances and make an appropriate choice.

In summary, the selection of a crusher tooth plate material requires comprehensive consideration of multiple key factors, including wear resistance, toughness, corrosion resistance, and cost. Only by comprehensively evaluating these factors, combined with actual production conditions and company needs, can the most appropriate tooth plate material be selected, ensuring efficient and stable crusher operation and generating greater economic benefits for the company.