Sustainable plain bearing materials made from regranulated tribo-plastic

For customers who want a more sustainable design for their moving application, Igus has added four new materials made of recycled plastic to its iglidur ‘ECO programme’. The ECO H, ECO P, ECO A180 and ECO G consist of regranulate, so conserve resources, while their abrasion-resistance helps to reduce microplastics.

Igus develops and tests many types of tribologically optimised high-performance plastics for moving applications: sliding, linear, ball or spherical plain bearings, energy chains, cables, materials for 3D printing or low-cost robotics based on plastics. These tribo-polymers are lightweight, maintenance-free and require no additional lubrication during their lifetime.

The new series consists of 97% to 100% regranulated iglidur materials.

The new plain bearing range includes four materials, and each demonstrates their advantages in a wide variety of applications. iglidur ECO H is temperature- and media-resistant and is therefore suitable for highly corrosive environments. iglidur ECO P offers high mechanical strength with low moisture absorption and is therefore optimised for outdoor use. The cost-effective material iglidur ECO A180 is suitable for price-sensitive applications, while iglidur ECO G is extremely robust and versatile.

All igus ECO materials, like the entire iglidur range of plain bearings, are lubricant-free and the service life can be calculated online. The new ECO series and the other 58 iglidur materials have proven in 15,000 tribological tests per year how abrasion- and wear-resistant they are. Less abrasion means less contamination by microplastics and a significantly longer service life. Replacing the machine or the individual components is not necessary so soon and so regularly.

In addition, if these components are ‘intelligent’ and accurately predict their service life in real operation, routine maintenance can be dropped and replacement intervals increased. The plain bearing is replaced exactly when necessary. This can also increase the service life of the individual components in the application. This means that no component that still works must be routinely replaced, saving carbon and resources.