Size distribution of wet crushed waste printed circuit boards

A wet impact crusher was used to breakdown waste printed circuit boards (PCB’s) in a water medium. The relationship between the yield of crushed product and the operating parameters was established. The crushing mechanism was analyzed and the effects of hammerhead style, rotation speed, and inlet water volume on particle size distribution were investigated. The results show that the highest yield of −1 + 0.75 mm sized product was obtained with an inlet water volume flow rate of 5.97 m3/h and a smooth hammerhead turning at 1246.15 r/min. Cumulative undersize-product yield curves were fitted to a nonlinear function: the fitting correlation coefficient was greater than 0.998. These research results provide a theoretical basis for the highly effective wet crushing of PCB’s.