Test laboratory for polymer ball bearings

• Test rigs in the ball bearing test laboratory 🔽
• Ball bearings under water: igus vs. metal bearings 🔽
• Which ball bearings are suitable for electroplating equipment? 🔽

Our materials engineer at the radial deep groove ball bearing test rig

DAQ measuring system + heating

• Picture on the left: unreinforced material, before the test
• Picture on the right: unreinforced material, after the test

Parameters: 25N, 2.000rpm, operating time 7 days

• Picture on the left: reinforced iglidur material, before the test
• Picture on the right: reinforced iglidur material, after the test

Parameters: 25N, 2.000rpm, operating time 7 days

Ball bearings under water: igus vs. metal bearings

igus has the world's largest test laboratory for plastics in moving applications in Cologne with around 12,000 tests per year. This includes, for example, tests that demand everything from the most diverse materials under the most adverse conditions. In this test, a xiros fixed flange ball bearing is pitted against its metallic counterpart in a salt water test. Two ball bearings under water: who wins?

Test set up

The test experiment was as follows: a container was filled with salty seawater and heated to +80°C. Two ball bearings, a conventional metal fixed flange bearing and a xiros fixed flange ball bearing made of xirodur B180, were then placed in the salt solution for 120 hours. In the xirodur B180 material, igus has a high-performance plastic that has been subjected to numerous tests and further developed over many years. In order to get a corrosion process going faster, both ball bearings were not entirely in the salt water bath and were in contact with air.

Metal bearing corrodes after just a few hours 

In the comparison, the plastic xiros fixed flange ball bearing emerged as the clear winner, because the metallic bearing corroded after only a few hours. Rust settled on all components of the bearing. The plastic ball bearing, on the other hand, remained completely unaffected by the aggressive saltwater environment and the high temperature. Rust or change in colour of the material? No such luck!The xiros bearing is therefore particularly suitable for applications in cleanroom or the medical and food industries . In general, ball bearings consist of four components comprising an inner and outer race, cage and balls as rolling elements made of stainless steel or glass. The most important technical advantage of xiros plastic ball bearings over their metal counterparts is their hygienic dry operation, which means that our ball bearings do not require a single drop of lubricating oil. The question that arises about the service life of xiros ball bearings can be answered with our online service life calculator.