Similar price, double the performance: New plain bearing all-rounder from igus

By OEM Update Editorial July 17, 2017 11:55 am

At Hannover Messe 2017, igus showed the improved version of iglidur G, the world’s most successful material for plastic bearings.

igus has improved its best-seller, the all-round bearing material iglidur G, and presented this at Hannover Messe 2017. What makes the new lubrication- and maintenance-free Tribo polymer material so convincing is its higher temperature resistance and
low moisture absorption as well as its improved friction and wear behaviour. And all of this at almost the same price.

When it comes to the minimisation of friction and wear without the need for any lubrication or maintenance, customers can now choose from a catalogue that contains a wide range of bearings made of 53 Tribo plastics with special material properties. In the igus product range, customers can find plastics specially suited for construction and agricultural machines as well as for use in the food or chemicals industry. The most frequently used iglidur bearing, however, is iglidur G. Presented for the first time in 1983, it can now be supplied worldwide from stock in 650 metric catalogue dimensions with diameters ranging from 1.5 to 195 millimetres. It combines a favourable price with many attractive technical properties: a long service life across the entire load spectrum on a wide variety of rotating or pivoting shafts, even in very different ambient conditions, for example when applications are exposed to dirt, dust or impacts. At Hannover Messe 2017, igus presented an upgraded version of this successful universalist: iglidur G1.

“The new G”: service life doubled
The new all-rounder achieves the stated goals for these igus products, namely enhancement of technical performance and reduction of costs, and does so in an exemplary manner. This is because the material of “the new G” has considerably improved properties at almost the same price. The igus developers have reduced the wear rates at low loads (up to to 5 MPa) down to levels up to a quarter of what they were before. The service life under heavy loads has almost been doubled, depending on the application parameters. At the same time, the all-rounder can now be used continuously at temperatures up to 180 C (iglidur G: 130 C). In addition, the temperature above which an additional means of axially securing the bearing apart from the press fit is recommended has been increased by half to 120 C In conjunction with the more than 50 per cent reduction of moisture absorption, this means that the material is suitable for an even wider range of ambient conditions. “The new material is an improved alternative in moving applications where metal solutions have been used up to now”, says René Achnitz, Head of Business Unit iglidur bearings at igus. “With this new material, customers can reduce costs by around 40 per cent, increase the service life of bearings and, at the same time, profit from the special material properties of iglidur such as the absence of a need for lubrication, lower weight and corrosion resistance.”Initially, iglidur G1 will be made available in 113 standard dimensions in the form of cylindrical bearings and flange bearings. Moreover, the range of dimensions will now be expanded continually in response to customer enquiries. Thanks to extensive tests in the 2,750 square-metre laboratory, it will soon be possible to calculate and configure iglidur G1 online like all the materials contained in the igus catalogue.

For more details, visit www.igus.in