November 2011
Polymer researcher and bearings specialist igus has developed a plain bearing material that is based on 54 percent renewable raw materials. The basic polymer of the new iglidur N54 plain bearing is mainly made from vegetable oil rather than finite crude oil. The company’s mechanically and tribologically optimised biological plastic is suitable for universal use in the low-load range. Product manager René Achnitz: “The new, lubricant-free iglidur N54 material joins our broad range of high-performance materials for general purpose, low-load applications and is a first serious step towards ‘green’ bearings.”
As well as general mechanical engineering applications, igus mainly sees possibilities in consumer goods markets, for example furniture or other items of daily use. The new bio-bearing smoothly fits in with the company’s concept of developing environmentally friendly alternatives for more and more applications that currently work with lubricated metallic plain and roller bearings. On the one hand, iglidur bearings help to protect resources and the environment due to the incorporated solid lubricants. Polymer bearings from igus do not require any oil and grease, are lubricant and maintenance-free, which means no contaminants are released to the environment. In addition, they have a low weight in comparison with metallic options, leading to lower masses and thus reduced energy consumption. Furthermore, the energy balance for the production of plastics is significantly better than for metals. Whereas the energy from 15 litres of crude oil is necessary to produce one litre of aluminium, and one litre of steel requires 11 litres of crude oil calculated on the same basis, the production of one litre of plastic only needs an average of 1.8 litres of crude oil. According to igus, this value is expected to fall even further on account of the major progress currently being made in the field of vegetable oil based polymers.
The basic polymer of the new bio-bearing iglidur N54 is made with 54percent vegetable oil.
