Extra-robust plain bearings in track vehicle

In search of the right material

"The positive experiences with igus plain bearings in other projects prompted me to approach Reiner Nusser at igus in May 2020," says Marius Holder. "We set up a trial test with three different igus materials, a metallic bearing, and the competitor turned bearing that had previously been used and did a long-term test under real conditions on the Kässbohrer shaft," says Nusser, Technical Sales Consultant at igus GmbH.

"The igutex TX1 turned out to be the optimal material for the PowerBully." The tests were performed on the standard heavy-load pivoting test rigs in igus' 3,800-square-metre in-house laboratory in Cologne. To determine the wear rate, igus used an outside micrometre to measure the bearing's inner diameter before and after the test. The test shows the TX1 service life is eight times that of the previous plain bearing. The turned plastic bearing has the highest dry wear rate at about 832µm/km, while the iglidur Q2 has the lowest at about 73.5µm/km. Lubricated, the metallic bearing exhibits the highest wear rate (about 199µm/km), the igutex TX1 the lowest (about 70 µm/km).