Coal Shearer Picks for Longwall Mining: SR8C and SR10C Carbide Grades from Ruixin
Longwall shearer picks fail in one of two ways: they wear down too fast, or they fracture under impact. Which failure mode you are dealing with determines everything about grade selection — and most pick failures trace back to a mismatch between cobalt content and the actual stress regime your cutting drums face.
Ruixin SR8C and SR10C carbide grades are formulated specifically for coal mining applications. Both cover longwall shearer and roadheader duty. The difference is one number: cobalt content, which shifts the balance between wear resistance and impact toughness. Send your rock type, machine model, and current grade — we confirm the right specification within 24 hours.
For the wear mechanism, support conditions and trial direction together, use the Coal Shearer Picks for Longwall Mining.
Carbide Grade Specifications for Longwall Shearer Picks
Two grades cover the majority of longwall coal mining applications:
| Grade | HRA | Cobalt % | Grain Size (um) | Flexural Strength (MPa) | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SR8C | 89.0 +/- 0.5 | 8% | 2.0-3.0 | >= 2,200 | Mixed strata, roadheader duty, moderate impact |
| SR10C | 88.0 +/- 0.5 | 10% | 2.0-3.0 | >= 2,200 | High-impact longwall, hard coal seams, complex strata |
SR8C sits at HRA 89 — hard enough for sustained abrasion against coal measure rock, with enough cobalt to handle the shock loading of a rotating drum. SR10C drops to HRA 88 but raises cobalt to 10%, which is the right trade-off when the dominant failure mode is tip fracture rather than surface wear.
Custom grade formulation is available for non-standard service conditions — harder seams, elevated moisture content, or operator requirements outside standard cobalt-grain combinations.
Why Carbide Grade Matching Matters for Longwall Applications
The real question when specifying coal shearer picks is not whether carbide is hard enough — it is whether cobalt content matches your actual failure mode.
In longwall mining, the cutting drum encounters variable conditions: pure coal, coal-stone interfaces, and occasional hard-rock intrusions. Each transition creates a different stress profile on the carbide tip. High-hardness grades (HRA 91+, cobalt 6-7%) deliver excellent wear resistance in consistent soft coal, but brittleness under sudden impact loading causes tip spalling — and a fractured insert does not just fail itself, it accelerates wear on the adjacent picks.
SR10C at 10% cobalt is engineered for exactly this scenario. Because longwall shearer drums in complex strata experience repeated transient impact loads at coal-rock interfaces, SR10C at HRA 88 provides the toughness margin to absorb dynamic load spikes without fracture, while maintaining sufficient hardness to resist abrasive wear between impacts.
If your current picks are chipping at the tip rather than wearing evenly from the nose, cobalt content is the variable to adjust — not insert geometry.
One pattern we see consistently: operators switch to a higher-hardness grade after seeing early wear, the fracture rate increases, and the assumption becomes “carbide quality.” The actual cause is a grade mismatch. SR8C outlasts SR10C by 30-40% in pure abrasion wear applications; SR10C outlasts SR8C by similar margins when tip fracture is the limiting failure mode. Context is everything.
OEM Supply, Custom Grades and Sample Process
Ruixin supplies coal shearer picks and carbide inserts on an OEM basis. Custom dimensional and grade specifications are accepted — if your machine model uses a non-standard tip geometry or your service conditions require a modified cobalt-grain combination, submit drawings or application specs and our engineers will confirm feasibility and pricing.
Standard process:
- Submit application details (rock type, machine model, current grade, failure mode)
- Engineers confirm grade selection and available dimensions — within 24 hours
- Sample order produced and shipped for field evaluation
- Volume supply with batch Material Test Reports per shipment
Capacity: 500 tons/year. ISO certified. Our Coal Tooth series carries 4 national patents covering tip geometry and bonding configuration. Learn more about our manufacturing capability and OEM process.
Why B2B Procurement Teams Choose Ruixin
Factory-direct from Jinan, Shandong. 14,200 m2 production floor, established 2014, R&D collaboration with Central South University. No trading company markup; direct access to the engineers who set the sintering parameters.
Technical consultation included. Grade selection support is part of the supply relationship — not an add-on. When field conditions change, we adjust the recommendation, not just the order.
Batch consistency with documentation. Every shipment includes a Material Test Report with actual measured values for density, HRA hardness, and flexural strength. If a supplier will not provide per-batch MTRs, that is the risk signal to act on.
See our full coal tooth carbide tips product page for standard dimensions and configurations. For related technical background, see our guide on carbide grade selection for coal mining.
Request a Grade Recommendation or Quote
Send your application details — coal seam type, machine model and drum speed, current grade in use, and primary failure mode (wear or fracture) — and our engineers will confirm grade selection, available dimensions, and pricing within 24 hours.
Email: info@ruixintungstencarbide.com
WhatsApp: +86-15253178777
English 
Russian 
Spanish 
French