Listen carefully: igus develops innovative two-component, very quiet ball bearing

Member News

The combination of great
design and clever, novel materials produces a resilient and quiet
tribo-optimized ball bearing for high speed and low noise.

Following intense research and
development, igus has launched a novel two-component (2K) ball bearing. The
lubrication- and maintenance-free xiros bearing combines several properties
making it wear-resistant and dimensionally stable and quiet, even at high
speeds. This combination makes the new 2K plastic ball bearing suitable for use
in fans and test lab equipment.

At high speeds, bearings require
resistant materials to withstand the high centrifugal forces of the balls in
the bearing. But these hard materials, when combined with stainless steel
balls, lead to vibration and high noise levels. With the new xiros 2K ball
bearing, igus has now developed a lubrication- and maintenance-free plastic
ball bearing that guarantees quiet operation even at continuous high speeds. To
achieve this, igus has combined different designs and materials in an
innovative way.

Hard shell, soft core

In this new bearing, the blue
layer of xirodur D180 material has a noise-dampening effect. To give the soft,
wear-resistant inner material a high dimensional stability, it is combined with
a hard shell. Because the soft material is poured into the hard shell of both
rings, the balls always run on the soft, high-performance plastic during
rotational movement and are then supported by the shell.

Undercuts designed into the balls
ensure high adhesion of both materials and additional stability. The balls are
kept apart by a wear-resistant cage made of the igus plain bearing material
iglidur J3.

Compared to standard ball
bearings, the 2K ball bearing delivers a particularly quiet, smooth operation
at high speeds, in industrial or domestic fans and lab equipment, for example.
In igus’ in-house test laboratory, tests showed around three times less noise
at high speeds than standard ball bearings from the xiros range. “In the
tests, the new xiros 2K bearing proved to be nine decibels quieter, which
corresponds to about half the volume of a B180 ball bearing,” says Rob
Dumayne, Drytech Director at igus UK.

In contrast to metallic solutions, the tribologically-optimized bearing does not need to be externally lubricated to maintain this smooth running. Despite the lack of lubrication, the bearing has a long service life with low operating costs. The 2K ball bearing is 10mm in diameter and will be available with inner diameters from 5mm to 12mm. Customized solutions and dimensions are also possible. An online configuration tool for the xiros 2K bearing will follow in the coming months.

Award-winning design

And the combination of novel material and best design of igus’s two-component ball bearing has won over the IF Design Awards judging panel. These awards have been running since 1954 and it is among the largest and most important industrial design competition worldwide. This year, the 132-member expert jury evaluated 11,000 submissions from 57 countries.

Watch the xiros two-component ball bearing in the video:

https://www.igus.co.uk/info/xiros-two-component-ball-bearing