Quality from the igus® test laboratory

Tested, tested, tested. Facts and figures of the igus® test lab at a glance:

igus® continually conducts tests at its own laboratory under extreme conditions. Every year, thousands of tests are completed on energy chains, highly flexible cables, plastic bearing technology such as plain bearings, ball bearings, linear bearings, spindle drives, semi-finished products and piston rings.

These tests focus on coefficients of friction, wear rates, and drive forces under all possible conditions at a wide range of speeds. Influential factors, such as dirt, weathering, cold and impacts, are also tested.

"Plastics for longer life®“ – that´s our vision. For this reason we passionately develop products that extend the service life of their machines, eliminate maintenance work, and reducing costs. The longevity of all our products can be predicted using advanced online tools. These products are in stock and can be delivered quickly to meet your production needs.

igus® operates the largest experimental and test laboratory for its industries. The testing facility is the beating heart of igus®' industry leading innovations. We test, inspect and develop under real conditions in a 19,000 square foot facility. We test both individual components, complete systems and customer application upon request. All of this is done solely with the objective of providing the best plastic product to our customers.

The extensive focus of these experiments are push-pull forces, coefficients of friction, wear and abrasion and driving forces under varied speeds and loads. Furthermore, we test our components for effects in dirt, in varied weather conditions, and in impacts and shocks. The aim is to continuously improve the performance of igus® products in any application.

In accordance with our core tribo-polymer technology, 15,000 product tests are performed just for coefficients of friction, wear and abrasion. In addition, 135 trillion test movements are performed for plain bearings, linear bearings, ball bearings, screw drives and robot joints. Annually, 3,000 energy chain systems are tested along with two billion test cycles for highly flexible cables, generating more than one million electrical measurement datasheets.

For some twenty years, igus® has performed systematic chainflex® test series in its own test lab: Currently, 600 tests run in parallel for flexible cables. Beyond the standard norms, igus® has also created testing and manufacturing standards for chainflex® cables, which meet the actual requirements of cables for the constantly moving sector. On one hand, we constantly explore new manufacturing methods that help to optimize production costs; on the other hand, we are always working on improving materials that will ensure a still better interaction of the energy chain systems with the cables.

All test results are documented and archived in igus®' database. The service life of our products are reliably calculated, new materials researched and products developed. In addition, our test results are incorporated into our online tool and calculators.

Our laboratory is at your disposal. In the instance we don't have an immediate solution for your specific application, we'd be happy to conduct tests for you based on your specifications.

Test laboratory: iglide® Bearings

Test laboratory: energy chains

Test laboratory: chainflex® continuous-flex cables

Outdoor tests

Downloads, certifications and approvals

igus® has been operating a quality management system for many years which conforms to ISO 9001:2015 standards. Here you can find some examples of our test certificates and seals of approval. More are available on request.