Wear-resistant plastic gears

Lubrication-Free Plastic Gears – Engineered for Performance

Discover durable, high-performance plastic gears made from iglidur® polymers—engineered for maintenance-free, lubrication-free operation and exceptional wear resistance. Tested extensively in-house, these gears are trusted across industries and tailored to your needs with free expert advice, custom design support, and no minimum order quantity. Whether you need a prototype or full-scale production, we ensure a fast and reliable process.

Browse all plastic gear types

Bevel Gears

Gear ratio: 1:1 - 1.5
Module: 1 - 3.5
Low coefficient of friction
Low moisture absorption
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Spur Gears

Number of teeth: 12 - 150
Module: 0.5 - 3
Increased wear resistance
Vibration-dampening
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Gear Racks

Module: 0.5 - 3
Length: 250mm
Low coefficient of friction
Low humidity absorption
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Custom-Made Gears – Precision Engineering for Every Need

Whether you need a single custom gear or high-volume production, we’ve got you covered. Our expert team offers a range of advanced manufacturing methods to deliver bespoke gears tailored to your exact specifications.

We’ll guide you through the most efficient and cost-effective production process and help you choose the ideal plastic material for your application.

We work with many customers who need custom gears—and we’re ready to help you too!

If you need assistance, please get in contact

Our manufacturing procedures for plastic gears

Injection moulding gears

From our largest possible variety of iglidur® materials
Standard dimensions available
Different shaft-hub combinations available
Individual high-volume production of special parts
Economic high-volume production
Matching racks available.

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3D printed gears

Delivery time from one to three days
No minimum order quantity
CAD configurator for gears and racks online
For prototypes
Custom designs available.
Various mateiral options.
High wear rate

Use the configurator

Mechanically manufactured gears

Made of iglidur® bar stock
Economically efficient in the case of small to medium-sized quantities
For high-volume gears
Various materials to choose from
FDA options available.
Custom design options

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Application examples with plastic gears

Gears in the automotive industry

The proportion of electronic and electromechanical components in vehicles has been growing continuously for years. The increased comfort and the growing safety requirements promote this development. The cable harness, which is responsible for supplying all these components, is the second-heaviest component in many motor vehicles, right after the engine. Actuators make up a large share of the elements to be supplied with power and signals.

Plastic gears in rail technology

To reduce interruptions of rail journeys, track switches are used. They ensure the seamless transition of the rail vehicles from one track to another. Reliable track switches are fundamental for a smooth operation of passenger and freight transport.

Plastic gears in e-bikes

E-bikes are becoming increasingly lighter and in addition very quiet. During operation, there are hardly any motor noises to be heard. However, resourceful inventors, such as Lars Hartmann from Reichshof, are not content with that. The bicycle chain's background noise was too loud and a thorn in his side. A metallic chain sprocket served as a guide roller for the chain to prevent it from colliding with the frame, but caused tremendous operating noise. In search of a remedy, he remembered the offer by
igus, which he had seen at a trade show: the 3D printing service , which manufactured individual components cost-effectively with a 3D printer.

Polymer gears for the charging system of electric cars

Easelink, a company from Graz, has developed "Matrix Charging", a charging system consisting of two components. A charging pad connected to the mains is installed in the car park. A connector on the bottom of the e-car drops down when the car is parked over the pad. The charging process starts automatically, without the driver having to connect a cable - similar to inductive charging, but with up to ten times the charging power and with 99 per cent efficiency.

Plastic gears in the fire brigade

The on-site fire brigade of Fraport AG provides for fire safety at the airport in Frankfurt am Main. Its airport fire engines have roof-mounted water cannons which use a servomotor to change the angle of the spray nozzle. As this angle is also changed while water is being sprayed, the load on the servomotor is considerable. After being in use for ten years, the gears in the cannon have become worn and therefore the roof-mounted cannons must be repaired.

Frequently asked questions about plastic gears

A plastic gear is a round component that has uniformly distributed teeth around its circumference. It transfers force between two rotating gears or between a gear and a rack. Depending on the application, further types are used.

The most common kinds of pinion gears are:
• Spur gears (you can find them in our online shop)
• Racks
• Worm gears
• Bevel gears
Different kinds of gear and toothing are often combined with each other in order to implement certain sequences of movement.

At igus®, gears are made with the help of three manufacturing methods:
• Injection moulding with iglidur® granulate materials
• Mechanical processing with iglidur® bar stock as the material
• 3D printing with iglidur® SLS or FDM materials
Depending on the enquiry, we will advise you on manufacturing methods and work with you to find the best economical solution

The module indicates the size of a gear. The module is calculated by dividing the pitch circle diameter by the number of teeth (m= d/z).
Please note that only gears with the same module can be combined.

Yes, the production of special geometries is possible and can be realised for all quantity scenarios thanks to our diverse manufacturing processes. We will be happy to advise you individually on your special geometry and the appropriate material. You can request your customised gear here

The iglidur® gears are used in all industries. Depending on the area of application, we offer special materials which, for example, have FDA conformity or certain fire standards (e.g. the automotive sector) or similar.

Our gears require no external lubrication and are therefore maintenance-free. With our gears, you also benefit from a long service life thanks to wear-resistant materials, which we achieve through the formulations of the iglidur® materials. Compared to metal gears, plastic gears are low-noise and offer optimum emergency running properties. The tribological optimisation of the materials also results in a low coefficient of friction.

We have test rigs in our test laboratory to test our gear made from a wide range of iglidur® materials in various scenarios. We are also happy to provide you with samples for your application-related tests.