igus iglidur AX500 food-contact plain bearings

In bearing points in the food and packaging industries, temperatures and speeds are frequently high. Ensuring that mechanisms function reliably requires durable plain bearing solutions that can continuously handle friction and heat. The igus iglidur AX500 provides users with a wear-resistant tribo-polymer that is electrically dissipative and can be used at high temperatures. This makes it suitable for maintenance-free applications with food contact.

For example, dosing systems equipped with highly sensitive mechanisms can fill thousands of bags of gummy bears in no time. Slides and belts then move the sweets to a box. At these high speeds, all the packaging mechanisms, and especially their bearings, are subjected to wear. Plain bearings made of the new iglidur AX500 high-performance polymer from Treotham help make bearing points maintenance-free and durable. The material is electrostatically dissipative, ensuring that the bags do not stick to each other and do not cause electric shocks. In very dusty environments such as flour processing, sparks can also lead to dust explosions. These sparks can take the form of small arcs that occur when moving machine parts do not have an electrically dissipative design.

As the material is also suited to the high-temperature range, it can be used in applications such as ovens and bottle cleaning. Its good chemical resistance means that aggressive cleaning agents will not harm the bearing. Nor is there any problem if the bearing contacts food, as the tribologically optimised polymer, with its embedded solid lubricants, requires no additional lubrication. The material also complies with Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011. iglidur AX500 plain bearings are not only maintenance-free, unlike stainless steel bearings, but also weigh less than the latter.

iglidur AX500 is designed to achieve better wear results than the iglidur A500. Available in standard dimensions (6–20 mm diameters), with or without a flange, it can be also made in special dimensions.