What is the difference between a shredder and a crusher

1. Different working principles

Shredder

Uses mechanical force of shearing and tearing, and two sets of counter-rotating knife shafts or gears engage with each other to forcibly shear the material into irregular fragments. Suitable for processing large-volume, high-toughness or hard materials (such as metal, tires, plastic barrels).

Example: After being processed by a shredder, the scrap car shell becomes palm-sized metal pieces.

Crusher:

Break the material into fine particles or powder through high-speed impact, collision or grinding (such as hammer strike, blade cutting, grinding disc friction). Suitable for brittle, low-toughness materials (such as ores, medicinal materials, grains, and sheet metal materials below 2cm).

2. Product morphology comparison

Shredder products:

The fragments are large in size (usually 1-10cm), irregular in shape, and rough on the edges, which are suitable for subsequent sorting or secondary processing.

Typical applications: Metal fragments can be directly smelted, and plastic fragments can be granulated and recycled.

Crusher products:

The particles are small (usually 0.1-5mm) with high uniformity, and can be used directly in production or packaging.

Typical applications: mineral powder is used in metallurgy, drug powder is used in preparation, and plastic particles are used in injection molding.

3. Processing object differences

Bite force shredder

Solid waste treatment: waste home appliances, car dismantling, electronic waste pre-treatment;

Recycling industry: preliminary crushing of metals, plastics, and rubber;

Special needs: processing of materials containing impurities (such as nailed wood, mixed metals).

Pulverizer:

Agriculture: crushing of straw and feed;

Mining: crushing of ore to smeltable particle size;

Chemical/Pharmaceutical: fine processing of raw materials;

Food processing: grinding of grains and seasonings.

4. Application scenarios and industries

Shredder:

Solid waste treatment: waste home appliances, car dismantling, electronic waste pretreatment;

Recycling industry: preliminary crushing of metals, plastics, and rubber;

Special needs: processing of materials containing impurities (such as nailed wood, mixed metals).

Pulverizer:

Agriculture: crushing of straw and feed;

Mining: crushing of ore to smeltable particle size;

Chemical/pharmaceutical: fine processing of raw materials;

Food processing: grinding of grains and seasonings.

5. Equipment performance characteristics

Actual case:

In an electronic waste recycling plant, the shredder first tears the circuit board into pieces to separate metals from non-metals; the crusher then crushes the non-metallic part into resin powder for building materials production.

In the agricultural field, the shredder processes corn stalks into 10cm pieces, and the crusher further processes them into feed particles.

When selecting equipment, it is necessary to reasonably match the shredding and crushing processes according to the material characteristics (hardness, toughness, size) and the target product requirements to achieve efficient and low-cost resource processing.