Jaw Cheek Plates | Side Liners Mn Steel | ATF

Cheek Plates: Side Wall Protection for Jaw Crushers

Cheek plates (also called side liners or wear plates) protect the side walls of the jaw crusher frame from abrasive wear during the crushing process. As feed material travels through the crushing chamber from the feed opening to the discharge gap, it contacts these side surfaces under substantial compressive and shearing forces. Without properly fitted cheek plates, the precision-machined frame surfaces would erode, leading to chamber geometry distortion, reduced nip angle effectiveness, and ultimately costly frame repairs or replacement. Cheek plates are manufactured from austenitic manganese steel conforming to ASTM A128 standards, with grades ranging from Mn13Cr2 through Mn18Cr2 to match the abrasiveness of the processed material.

Cheek plate wear patterns vary significantly with feed material characteristics, crusher chamber design, and operating parameters such as CSS setting and feed distribution. Higher manganese grades like Mn18Cr2 provide substantially longer wear life in abrasive applications involving granite, basalt, or quartzite, though at increased material cost. Most aggregate and mining operators find that standard Mn14Cr2 provides the optimal balance of wear life and cost-effectiveness for limestone, sandstone, and similar medium-abrasion feeds. For operations processing highly siliceous materials with SiO2 content above 65%, upgrading to Mn18Cr2 typically reduces total cost per ton by extending replacement intervals from weeks to months, offsetting the higher per-unit cost.