igus® tribopolymer research: friction, wear and mechatronics –
all tested in the igus® laboratory

Facts and figures of the igus® lab at a glance: igus® operates the largest laboratories of its industries with test facilities for Energy Chains®, highly flexible cables, plastic bearing technology such as plain bearings, ball bearings, linear bearings, spindle drives, semi-finished products, piston rings etc.

„plastics for longer life®“ – that´s our vision. For this reason we passionately develop products that extend the service life of their machines, eliminate maintenance work, thus reducing costs. And what's more, the longevity of all our products can be predicted online und and delivered fast ..

For this purpose, igus® operates the largest experimental and test laboratory for its industries. There beats the heart of the igus® innovation. We test, inspect and develop under real conditions in an area of 2,750 m² – whether individual components or complete system. Solely with the objective of providing the best plastic product to our customers every time.

Focus of extensive experiments are push-pull forces, coefficients of friction, wear and abrasion and driving forces under the most varied speeds and loads. Furthermore, we test our components for effects in dirt, in the most varied weather conditions such as cold, or even in impacts and shocks. The aim is to continuously move up the limits of application.

In accordance with our core technology tribo-polymers 15,000 product tests are performed just for coefficients of friction, wear and abrasion. And this in more than 300 test facilities in parallel. In addition, 135 trillion test movements are performed for plain bearings, linear bearings and ball bearings and screw drives and robot joints.

In the business area of energy supply systems and permanently moving cables, the spectrum ranges from the test stands of the climate chamber, through linear test axes with different travels and accelerations, up to user-specific tests on six-axis robots and test stands for dynamic simulations such as bending cycles. Annually, 3,000 energy chain systems® are tested, two billion test cycles for highly flexible cables are run and a million electrical measurement datasets are generated.

For some twenty years, igus® performs systematic chainflex® test series in its own test lab: Currently, 600 tests run in parallel for flexible cables. Beyond the standard norms, igus® has also created testing and manufacturing standards for chainflex® cables, which meet the actual requirements of cables for the constantly moving sector. On one hand, we constantly explore new manufacturing methods that help to optimize production costs; on the other hand, we are always working on improving materials that will ensure a still better interaction of the e-chain® with the cables.

All test results are documented and archived in the company's database. On this basis, the service life of our products are reliably calculated, new materials researched and products developed. In addition, our test results are incorporated into our online calculators .

Testlab bearings

Testlab e-chains®

Testlab chainflex® high flexible cables

Excerpt from tests

Outdoor tests