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iglidur plain bearings
No lubrication, no maintenance

Employee greases bearing point with grease gun

Wherever metal moves on metal, regular lubrication is necessary. The expenses incurred for lubricants, maintenance and labour cost millions. Anyone who has ever experienced the damage caused by inadequate lubrication knows that this is where it gets really expensive. igus offers you lubrication-free bearing technology with which you can save these costs.

How it works? iglidur plain bearings contain solid lubricant particles, millions of which are embedded in small chambers in the material. This creates the so-called self-lubricating effect through which iglidur plastic plain bearings
do not require any additional lubricants. A study by RWTH Aachen is the first to show the savings potential of self-lubricating plastic plain bearings in terms of costs for lubricants, personnel and maintenance.

What you will find on this page:

What our customers save ▼
How does the self-lubricating effect work? ▼
White paper: bearing points without lubrication? ▼
RWTH study ▼

Do you want to save costs for lubricants, maintenance and labour?
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What our customers save

€88 costs ¹
14.7 hours maintenance ²
6.3kg_{CO₂ equivalent} ³

Lemken specialises in manufacturing agricultural equipment for soil cultivation, sowing and crop protection and saves 22 lubrication points per cultivator.

€87.36 costs ¹
13 hours maintenance ²
1.4kg_{CO₂ equivalent} ³

Rockinger uses a self-lubricating wear insert in the KS80 ball coupling, which makes lubrication superfluous and minimises maintenance.

€52.5 costs ¹
13 hours maintenance ²
3.8kg_{CO₂ equivalent} ³

By using one plastic bearing per labelling station, Krones AG saves over €50 and 13 hours of maintenance time per year.

¹ Annual cost savings due to using plastic plain bearings per machine/system
² Annual time savings due to using of plastic plain bearings per machine/system
³ Annual savings of CO₂ equivalents due to using plastic plain bearings per machine/system

How does self-lubrication work?

iglidur plain bearings contain millions of solid lubricants in tiny chambers that are embedded in fibre-reinforced material. The material releases tiny amounts of solid lubricants from these chambers. This is enough to lubricate the immediate surroundings.

They also help reduce the coefficient of friction of the iglidur materials. The integration in the tiny chambers also has the advantage that the solid lubricants cannot be squeezed to other places, as is the case with conventional lubrication.

Thanks to the self-lubricating effect, maintenance is minimised. Regular relubrication is not necessary due to the incorporated solid lubricants and dirt or dust cannot adhere to the bearing point.

200-fold enlargement of base polymers with fibres and solid lubricants of an iglidur plastic bearing

White paper

Bearing points without lubrication? Guide, expert tips and practical examples

We have prepared the following topics for you in our white paper:
✅ What does lubrication cost?
✅ Costs of lubrication for industry and the environment
✅ Lubrication-free bearing systems as an alternative
✅ How do lubrication-free plain bearings work?
✅ Operating conditions for lubrication-free plain bearings
✅ "Best practice" - success stories and guidelines
✅ How we support you

Download now for free (PDF)

RWTH study:

Up to €14 million potential savings per year thanks to lubrication-free plastic bearings

An independent study commissioned by igus quantifies the ecological and economic benefits of self-lubricating plastic plain bearings for the first time. It was carried out by the Werkzeugbau Akademie, a research company that works on the RWTH Aachen Campus as part of one of Europe's largest research laboratories in the field of production technology, together with the Fraunhofer Institute, among others.

As part of the study, expert interviews were conducted with nine companies from the automation technology, construction machinery, agricultural, food, packaging and bottling industries. The participants include B. CNH Industrial, Heineken and Krones AG

Learn more about the study