Social transformation, responsibility for the environment, and changes in how plastics are used are getting a lot of attention in the industry. For customers interested in more sustainable designs for their moving applications, Igus now offers an exciting alternative: four new materials made from recycled plastic are available in the new Iglide ECO product range.

The motion plastics specialist Igus develops and tests tribologically optimized high-performance plastics for moving applications: plain bearings, linear bearings, ball bearings, spherical bearings, energy chains, cables, 3D printing materials and plastic-based low-cost robotics.

Source: IgusThe advantages of tribo-polymers are clear. The materials are lightweight, low-maintenance and require no additional lubrication throughout their service life. This is a huge advantage because, in Germany alone, more than a million metric tons of lubricating oil are sold yearly, and the majority end up in the environment. Iglide plain bearing technology can reduce this pollution while increasing the application’s service life. With the plain bearing product range made of ECO materials, Igus starts earlier in the product life cycle and uses regranulation to produce new plain bearings.

The new series consists of 97% to 100% regranulated Iglide materials. To this end, sprue, a classic waste product in injection-molding production, can be used. The new plain bearing product range includes four materials that demonstrate their advantages in a wide variety of applications: Iglide ECO H is exceptionally resistant to temperature and media and can therefore be used in highly corrosive and hot environments. Iglide ECO P offers high mechanical strength with low moisture absorption and is ideal for outdoor use. The affordable Iglide ECO A180 material is suitable for price-sensitive applications, while Iglide ECO G is extremely robust and versatile.

In 15,000 tribological tests per year, the new ECO series and the other 58 Iglide materials prove their resistance to abrasion and wear. Less abrasion means less microplastic pollution and considerably longer service life. Like the entire product range of Iglide plain bearings, all ECO materials are self-lubricating, and their service life can be calculated online.