The bearing for a rotating motion (counter partner made from fibreglass reinforced PP rotates at 100 RPM) in 50°C hot water and cleaning media developed problems after only 25% of the expected service life. Wear in the form of small fragments results in shortening of the bushing. Because of the high chemical resistance of the material, the customer excluded the cleaning media as the cause.
The igus® test lab used original parts from the customer to create a realistic copy of the application, and started testing with various materials.
The results were clear after only a few days: Only the combination of vibrations and chemicals results in bearing damage. By concurrently testing several other iglidur® plain bearings, iglidur® J emerged as the suitable bearing material.