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June 2009
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Current estimations are that over 40% of all lubricants are ultimately released into the environment, by seeping into water or soil, or evaporating into the atmosphere.
 A study by a research team of chemists, mechanical engineers and environmentalists at the RWTH University in Aachen, Germany, found that this country alone consumes 250,000 tonnes of lubrication each year. To put this into perspective, this would fill 8000 standard tanker Lorries. Most countries have a threshold level permissible in waste streams, and hundreds of millions of pounds are spent annually treating the waste water to get to acceptable levels.
The Iglidur plain bearings from Igus are tribologically optimised to ensure that no lubrication is ever required. These bearings run without any oil or grease, so no contaminants escape into the environment. The continuous development of the Igus product range means that more and more applications which traditionally use lubricated metal plain bushes can now benefit from environmentally friendly plastic Iglidur bearings.
The manufacture of plastic plain bearings is very positive from an environmental point of view. While 15l of oil are required to produce 1l of aluminium, and 11l of oil to make 1l of steel, only 1.8l of oil are necessary to produce 1l of plastic. In fact, only 4% of the world's oil production is used in the manufacture of plastics, and this value is likely to decrease with the progress that is being made in the organic production of polymers. Also, the first steps are being made in extracting Carbon Dioxide from power station emissions and using this to produce polymers such as Polycarbonate and Polyurethane.
Lubricant-free and light weight
As well as the "no lubrication" environmental benefit of Iglidur bearings, there is also the issue of weight reduction. The light weight bearings also help to reduce fuel consumption and Carbon Dioxide output in vehicles, aircraft, and plant machinery. Basically, the reduced weight leads to a lower required drive force, and subsequently lower energy consumption. Also, Iglidur polymer plain bearings have, as standard, high chemical resistance, whereas metal plain bearings often have to be coated to achieve this. The coating methods used include zinc plating, treatment and galvanising, which is both unhealthy and high in energy consumption.
Iglidur: the green bearing
Iglidur plain polymer bearings are designed to be dimensionally interchangeable with lubricated plain metal bearings. Go green with minimal effort, fit Iglidur polymer bearings and protect our future.
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Author
J Cunningham
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