Better sliding without PTFE

What was the biggest challenge during development?

Especially for the widely used iglidur materials, it is very difficult to ensure that the products offer the same performance in practice as the PTFE-containing variants. As these are used in an extremely wide range of applications with very different requirement profiles and the design of plain bearings – if it is to be truly accurate – is based on a great deal of experience and empiricism and is difficult to simulate theoretically due to the many influencing factors, the test effort is considerable. Our well-equipped wear laboratory and our experience help us with this. PTFE really comes into its own when it comes to chemical-resistant and temperature-resistant bearings. It is not easy to find materials with similar specifications. Nevertheless, we have succeeded.

Which applications or users benefit in particular from the new PTFE-free plain bearing materials?

The range is wide. Many manufacturers are currently looking for products that do without PTFE or even completely without PFAS. In addition to these aspects, resistance to corrosive cleaning agents or high temperatures are also a priority in food processing. In the automotive sector, meanwhile, price pressure is particularly high, while many other factors often play a role in consumer products such as electrical appliances and the like. With almost 30 plain bearing materials now available without PTFE and over 40 materials in which we can already exclude 96 PFAS that are considered critical, we offer a wide range of solutions here.