How much production capacity can be lost when crusher wear is treated as a maintenance issue only?
In mining operations, crusher wear is often viewed as an unavoidable maintenance cost. Segments wear out, shutdowns are scheduled, parts are replaced, and production resumes.
But what happens when wear does more than shorten component life?
What if rapid wear also affects product size distribution, increases recirculation, reduces throughput, and forces the operation into repeated maintenance shutdowns?
That was the challenge faced by a European tungsten mining operation using a double-roll secondary crusher in a highly abrasive application.
The site was processing tungsten ore from approximately 4 inches down to granular material. The crusher operated under high throughput demand, with roll surfaces continuously exposed to abrasive material and compressive forces.
The existing OEM manganese crusher segments were not delivering the required wear performance. Replacement cycles were short, production was being affected, and maintenance downtime was becoming a major operational constraint.
What was the operational challenge?
The double-roll secondary crusher was experiencing severe wear on its OEM manganese segments.
As the segments wore down, the crusher profile degraded quickly. This created a direct impact on product size distribution. Instead of maintaining consistent output, the crusher generated more oversized material, increasing recirculation and reducing effective throughput.
The operation was facing several connected problems:
- Crusher segment replacements were required every 8 to 10 days.
- Product size distribution was becoming inconsistent due to rapid wear.
- Recirculation rates were increasing and reducing site capacity.
- Maintenance downtime reached approximately 2,100 hours per year.
- The operation remained dependent on an OEM-supported maintenance model, but the wear performance was still insufficient for the application.
The issue was not simply that the parts were wearing out.
The real issue was that wear was affecting the crusher’s ability to perform its function consistently.
Why was manganese steel underperforming in this application?
Manganese steel is widely used in crushing applications because of its work-hardening properties. Under the right conditions, repeated impact causes the surface of the material to harden, improving its resistance to wear.
However, manganese steel does not perform equally well in every crushing environment.
In this case, the dominant wear mechanism was high abrasion, and the operating conditions did not provide enough impact energy to fully activate manganese work-hardening.
This created a mismatch between the material and the wear environment.
Several factors contributed to accelerated wear:
- Highly abrasive tungsten ore caused continuous material loss.
- Impact conditions were insufficient to fully work-harden the manganese segments.
- Segment profiles degraded rapidly, affecting product size control.
- Increased recirculation further accelerated wear and reduced throughput.
In other words, the crusher was caught in a negative performance loop.
The more the segments wore, the worse the size distribution became. The worse the size distribution became, the more material had to be recirculated. The more material was recirculated, the more wear was imposed on the crusher.
Could the problem be solved without a major equipment redesign?
A key requirement was to improve crusher performance without forcing the operation into a major capital project.
Soluroc developed an ABRECO® wear solution based on a detailed Wear Point Survey and engineering analysis.
The goal was not simply to replace one material with another. The objective was to align the crusher segment design and material selection with the actual wear mechanism observed in the application.
The solution included:
- Retrofitted crusher segments using laminated white iron with chromium and manganese.
- Material selection optimized for abrasion resistance while maintaining structural integrity.
- Integration of ABRECO® wear components into the existing equipment.
- No major redesign of the crusher required.
- Initial use of welded wear buttons to validate performance rapidly in the field.
This approach allowed the operation to test the solution under real conditions before moving to full deployment.
How was the solution validated?
Rather than moving directly to a full replacement, the site used a phased implementation approach.
First, welded ABRECO® wear components were installed and tested over a one-week period. This short trial allowed the operation to evaluate performance in the actual crushing environment, using real ore, real throughput demands, and real maintenance constraints.
After the trial demonstrated positive results, the operation moved forward with a full crusher segment replacement.
The upgraded system delivered immediate improvements and was adopted by the operation.
This validation process was important because it reduced risk. The operation did not have to rely only on theoretical material claims or laboratory comparisons. It was able to confirm performance directly in the application.
What results were achieved?
The ABRECO® crusher segment solution delivered measurable improvements across maintenance, reliability, and production performance.
The site achieved:
- More than 2× wear life improvement compared with OEM manganese segments.
- Reduced maintenance frequency from the previous 8-to-10-day replacement cycle.
- Approximately 1,530 hours of annual downtime recovered.
- Approximately 17.5% increase in site capacity.
- Improved product size distribution.
- Reduced recirculation.
- Estimated annual savings of approximately $3.8M CAD.
The impact went beyond component life.
By improving wear resistance and maintaining crusher profile for longer, the operation also improved the stability of the crushing process. This helped reduce recirculation, recover production capacity, and lower the maintenance burden on the site.
What can reliability and maintenance teams learn from this application?
This case highlights an important principle: crusher wear should not be evaluated only by how long a component lasts.
In crushing applications, wear can directly affect process performance. As wear profiles change, product sizing, recirculation, energy use, maintenance planning, and throughput can all be affected.
For reliability and maintenance teams, several lessons stand out.
First, manganese steel performance depends on sufficient impact energy. When the environment is dominated by abrasion rather than impact, manganese may not work-harden effectively enough to deliver optimal wear life.
Second, material selection should be matched to the dominant wear mechanism. A material that performs well in one crushing application may underperform in another if the abrasion-impact balance is different.
Third, wear-related losses are not limited to replacement parts and labour. In this case, wear was also affecting production capacity through increased recirculation and downtime.
Finally, engineered retrofits can deliver significant operational gains without requiring a major capital investment. By adapting the wear solution to the existing equipment, the operation improved performance while avoiding a complete crusher redesign.
What is the broader takeaway?
The key question is not only: “How long will the part last?”
The better question is: “How does wear affect the performance of the entire crushing process?”
In this tungsten mining application, rapid segment wear was reducing crusher efficiency, increasing downtime, and limiting site capacity.
By applying an engineered ABRECO® wear solution, the operation extended wear life, improved size consistency, reduced recirculation, and recovered significant production time.
For mining operations facing similar issues in abrasive crushing environments, the right wear solution can do more than reduce maintenance.
It can help unlock throughput.