PLASTICS AND MATERIALS
SHOWDOWN IN
THE TEST LAB
Plastic ball bearings
compete against metal
bearings in the salt
water test
The test winner xiros, available
from Treotham, is up to 60%
lighter and 40% more costeffective
than the metallic
version.
Igus operates the world's
largest test laboratory for
plastics in moving applications.
More than 12,000 tribological
tests are conducted every
year by the motion plastics
specialist. These include
tests that investigate the use
of a wide variety of
materials in the
most varied
environments in real
test. This time: xiros flanged
ball bearings and metal
bearings in salt water. The
use of lubrication-free and
maintenance-free tribo-plastics
enabled the xiros bearing to be
completely convincing in the
experiment.
The engineers of the igus test
laboratory filled a container
with saltwater from the sea
and heated it to +80 degrees
Celsius. Then two bearings
were put inside for 120 hours:
a classic 2-hole flange bearing
made of metal and a xiros
flange bearing made of xirodur
B180, a high-performance
plastic that has been optimised
by igus for years in terms of
wear and media resistance.
Both bearings were not
completely covered in the test
but exposed to air in order to
trigger the corrosion effect.
The test result spoke clearly
in the end. After just a few
30 August 2018
hours, the metal bearing began
to corrode. At the end of the
test, significant traces of rust
were visible on all bearing
components. Unlike the bearing
of plastic. The xiros flange ball
bearing was unfazed even after
120 hours in the aggressive salt
water and high temperatures.
There was no colour change
and no trace of rust. A clear
advantage especially in
cleanroom applications and use
in food and medical technology,
where rust poses a hygiene
risk.
The xiros ball bearings usually
consist of four components: the
inner and outer rings as well
as the cages made of
plastic and the balls
made of
stainless steel or glass.
Unlike metal bearings, the
wear-resistant polymer bearings
enable a very smooth and
hygienic dry operation without
a single drop of lubricating oil
and are maintenance-free.
Their long service life can be
easily calculated online. In
addition, the plastic bearings
are electrically insulating,
temperature-resistant from -40
to +80 degrees Celsius, nonmagnetic
and 60% lighter and
up to 40% more cost-effective
than comparable metal
bearings. They are suitable for
absorbing medium loads and
due to their reliability, have
been preferred by customers
around the world for many
years, for example, for use
in conveyor belts, labelling,
handling and packaging
machines as well as in filling
machines.
MAINTENANCE
PREDICTED AND INTELLIGENTLY
PLANNED WITH NEW IGUS ISENSE
Making Industry 4.0 easy – the
igus isense family shows how
easily plant uptime can be
increased and costs reduced with
intelligent plastic solutions.
Treotham offers four different igus
integration systems to incorporate
the data from the sensors into
maintenance planning and work in
the most effective way possible.
Users can find the right solution,
from automatic shutdown of
machinery and online status of the
e-chainsystems, to self-triggering
replacement part ordering and
maintenance planning directly
from a smartphone.
Increasing plant uptime with
predictive maintenance – this is
the goal of the igus smart plastics
from Treotham. Intelligent sensors
from the isense family monitor
plastic solutions from the motion
plastics specialist: from energy
chains and highly flexible cables
to lubrication-free linear guides
and maintenance-free slewing
ring bearings. Depending on
the individual application, data
obtained can be used in different
ways.
isense standalone and
offline systems for
disruption-free production
If companies just want to costeffectively
prevent disruption
to production, the best choice
is the easy-to-integrate isense
REN066
standalone system. Sensors on
e-chains and cables measure
values such as acceleration,
temperature and wear. The
machinery can be switched off
either directly by means of the
NC contact or as a result of
evaluation via an I/O interface in
the customer's PLC. In the event
that reference values defined in
advance by igus are exceeded,
the NC contact is triggered and
the machine comes to a standstill.
Alternatively, the measured values
are transferred to the PLC.
Depending on how the PLC is
programmed, optical or acoustic
warnings can indicate that the
reference values are exceeded. By
contrast, the isense offline system
is a suitable solution if a service
technician has to monitor a large
number of energy chains, cables
and bearings in a production or
port facility. For example, the new
P4.1 rol-e chain for long travels
with integrated isense wear
sensor. For this application, an
additional industrial PC is required
to display messages. There is no
internet connection in this case. In
this simple variant, the service life
calculations are static and cannot
be altered.
Ordering of replacement
parts in advance with ERP
connection
The possibilities for using the
Intranet and Internet, take things a