Low friction coatings

Reduced wear and reduced processing times for packaging machines

A manufacturer of packaging and processing machines has reduced frictional resistance, improved rigidity, shortened throughput times and increased hygiene standards on a series of machines by applying an iglidur® IC-05 tribo-coating to a sliding carriage.

Since the 60-100 micrometre thin lubricating coating is FDA approved, contact with food is also no problem in this application. The previous rollers made of uncoated metallic material carried the potential risk of contamination of the packaging materials despite regular cleaning of the machine.

Coated springs for Venetian blinds with iglidur coating

For this application, springs were coated with an iglidur coating material and used for guidance of window blinds. The manufacturer was faced with the problem that lubricants did not last over the entire service life of the blinds. So he tested the springs with an iglidur IC-02 coating.Although the springs touched the aluminium housing in the test, the coated spring survived the housing. In addition, there was no noise generation by the springs in the test. Thanks to the coating, the use of grease can now be completely eliminated.

Plates for pole mounting with iglidur IC-02 coating

Until now, wear pads made of aluminium and a POM material have been used in this application to prevent the wear of two metal components. Now this customer relies on wear pads coated with iglidur IC-02 high-performance polymers.To ensure that the coated plates withstand the extreme environmental conditions, they have been tested in practice with sand, water and high and low temperatures. The result: the ambient conditions are no problem and the metal components do not wear out.

Adjustable office chair armrest with iglidur IC-02 coating

Our customer, a manufacturer of office chairs, used to use components made of a POM material for the armrests. Since the friction of this material was too high, he decided on an alternative from igus: Moulded aluminium linear guides combined with sliding elements made of iglidur J massively reduced the friction. The customer used to coat the aluminium channels with a clear PTFE colour, which was both expensive and required a long handling time.

So he tested our IC-02 coating powder, which additionally reduced friction and was also more cost effective. The manufacturing process has thus taken a step forward: The components are now coated directly with IC-02 and no subsequent painting is required. The same contractor coats the inside with IC-02 and then paints the outside for a better look.