What Are the Drawbacks of an Impact Crusher, and How to Overcome Them for Your Quarry?

Horizontal shaft impact crusher

Impact crushers (also known as impact breaker or sand making machines) are one of the core pieces of equipment in mining and aggregate production. They utilize a high-speed rotating rotor to propel material, achieving crushing through a "stone-on-stone" or "stone-on-iron" principle, playing a crucial role in manufactured sand production and medium-fine crushing stages. However, every piece of equipment has its limitations. As a manufacturer of mining crushing equipment with 20 years of R&D and manufacturing experience, we are committed to providing global customers with scientific and reliable crushing solutions for all scenarios. This article will delve into the disadvantages of impact crushers, combining their advantages, applications, and case studies to help you make a more informed equipment selection decision.

Main Disadvantages (Limitations) of Impact Crusher

1. Rapid wear of wear parts, resulting in higher operating costs: When crushing high-hardness materials (such as granite and basalt) or highly corrosive materials, core wear parts such as hammers and impact plates wear out rapidly, leading to a significantly higher replacement frequency and spare parts cost compared to some compression crushers (such as jaw crushers and cone crushers).

2. Prone to clogging when handling high-moisture, high-viscosity materials: When materials have high moisture or mud content, they easily adhere to the hammer, impact plate, and inside the machine cavity, leading to decreased throughput, reduced productivity, and even equipment blockage, requiring frequent shutdowns for cleaning.

3. Product particle shape is highly dependent on rotational speed, and adjustment is complex: Product particle size and shape are mainly achieved by adjusting rotor speed, feed particle size, and gradation. Precisely changing product specifications requires a deep understanding of equipment parameters and processes, making operation relatively difficult.

4. Significant noise and dust emissions: The high-speed impact operation inevitably generates significant noise and dust, placing stricter requirements on environmental protection facilities (such as dust removal and sound insulation) to comply with increasingly stringent environmental regulations.

5. Potentially higher initial investment: Compared to some primary crushing equipment, the initial purchase cost of a high-performance impact crusher may be higher, but its high efficiency and excellent particle shape in specific scenarios can bring long-term returns.

PF Impact Crusher Structure Diagram

Why is it still an irreplaceable choice? — Core Advantages of Impact Crusher

Despite the aforementioned drawbacks, the impact crusher remains the optimal solution in many scenarios due to its unparalleled advantages:

• Excellent product particle shape: The produced material is predominantly cubic with low needle-like and flaky content, making it ideal for producing high-standard manufactured sand and high-quality aggregates, significantly improving concrete strength and building quality.

• High crushing ratio and high efficiency: A large single-machine crushing ratio simplifies the process, allowing for "one-stage crushing" instead of the traditional "two-stage crushing," resulting in outstanding efficiency in processing materials with medium to low hardness.

• Flexible discharge particle size adjustment: By adjusting rotor speed, impact plate gap, etc., the discharge specifications can be flexibly changed within a certain range, making it versatile and adaptable to perse needs.

• Relatively compact equipment structure: The installation foundation is relatively simple, offering greater flexibility in production line layout.

Optimal Application Scenarios

While the impact crusher is not a panacea, it excels in the following scenarios:

• Manufactured sand production: It is currently the main equipment in the artificial sand production field.

• Medium and fine crushing of limestone and medium-to-low hardness ores: Widely used in the cement and building materials industries.

• Construction waste recycling: Crushing and regenerating concrete blocks, waste bricks, and tiles.

• High-quality aggregate production lines requiring strict requirements on product particle shape.

Aggregate crushing plant

Baichy Manufacturing Project Case: Overcoming Shortcomings and Achieving Ultimate Efficiency

Project Background: A large-scale integrated granite aggregate and manufactured sand project in Southeast Asia, requiring excellent finished aggregate particle shape and simultaneous production of high-quality manufactured sand.

Challenges: Granite has high hardness and strong abrasiveness, posing a severe challenge to the wear resistance of the equipment; the customer has a need for dynamic adjustment of the sand-to-aggregate ratio.

Baichy Solution:

1. Equipment Selection: We recommend our VSI7 series high-performance impact crusher, whose core features a heavy-duty rotor design and high-toughness composite wear-resistant parts, increasing the hammer life by more than 30% and effectively offsetting the high wear disadvantage.

2. Process Design: Adopting a composite process of "jaw crusher + cone crusher + impact crusher". The cone crusher handles the main medium crushing task, while the impact crusher is placed at the end specifically for shaping and sand making, maximizing its particle shape advantages while reducing its throughput and wear load.

3. Intelligent Control: Equipped with an automatic monitoring system, it monitors rotor balance and bearing temperature in real time, and uses a hydraulic opening device, reducing wear part replacement and maintenance time by 50%.

Results: The production line operates stably, with over 95% of the finished aggregate being cubic in shape. The manufactured sand gradation meets the Zone II medium sand standard, fully satisfying the requirements of high-end commercial concrete, and the customer's return on investment exceeds expectations.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: Which is more suitable for crushing high-hardness stones, an impact crusher or a cone crusher?

A1: For high-hardness materials (such as granite and pebbles), multi-cylinder hydraulic cone crushers generally have advantages in wear part life and operational stability, resulting in lower long-term operating costs. Impact crushers can be used in the subsequent shaping and sand making stage. Our engineers will provide you with the optimal combined process design.

Q2: How to reduce the wear part consumption cost of impact crushers?

A2: First, select models specifically designed for hard rock and high-quality wear-resistant parts; second, ensure uniform and continuous full-feed operation to avoid idling or impact; finally, establish a preventative maintenance system, regularly inspecting, weighing, and replacing parts to prevent uneven wear.

Q3: What solutions are available for clogging caused by high-moisture materials?

A3: Consider adding a pre-screening or drying process before feeding to reduce the moisture content of the feed. In terms of equipment design, choose models equipped with heating devices or special flow channel designs to prevent condensation and adhesion. For materials with high mud content, a pre-washing process is crucial.

Q4: As a manufacturer with 20 years of experience, what unique value can Baichy offer?

A4: We not only sell inpidual machines but also provide comprehensive solutions based on experience from thousands of projects worldwide. From initial material analysis and process design to providing equipment optimized for specific operating conditions, to installation guidance, maintenance training, and global rapid spare parts supply, we ensure that every piece of equipment operates under optimal conditions, maximizing its advantages and minimizing its disadvantages.

Baichy Machinery is a factory supplier of mining machinery, mainly focusing on stone crushers, powder grinding mills, and mineral beneficiation plants. We can offer you a free design and completed solutions according to your project.

Baichy Heavy Industry has grown into a high-tech mining equipment comprehensive enterprise, integrating R&D, manufacturing, sales, and after-sales service, Passing ISO9001:2015 quality management system certifications. The main products are mobile jaw crushing plants, construction waste crushing plants, PE jaw crushers, VSI sand-making machines, Symons cone crushers, single-cylinder hydraulic cone crushers, PCX high-fine crushers, grinding mills, ball mills, and full sets of beneficiation equipment with an excellent level.