Motion plastics specialist igus, has now developed a new high-performance polymer for food production with Blue Tribo-Polymer, part of iglidur A250 product range for knife edge rollers. This FDA and EU-compliant Blue Tribo-Polymer is not only optically detectable but also wear-resistant and withstands high belt speeds of up to 1m/s.

As a result of the increasing demands for productivity in the food industry, the speeds of the plant and thereby the requirements on the machine elements are increasing more and more. This is also a challenge for knife edge rollers that guide pasta conveyor belts, for example. With over 50 years of experience in plain bearing technology, igus has now developed a new material for precisely this application.

Lars Braun, Head-Sector Management, Food and Packaging Technology, igus GmbH, explained, "With the new iglidur A250 tribo-polymer, for the first time we have a polymer in our product range that meets the strict hygiene requirements of both the FDA and EU 10/2011 regulations and is also suitable for high belt speeds."

This makes the high-performance polymer ideal for knife edge rollers. The new rollers made of iglidur A250 require only a low drive power due to the minimisation of the coefficient of friction. Like all iglidur polymers, iglidur A250 is free of external lubrication, insensitive to dust and dirt and easy to clean. Thanks to its blue colour it is also optically detectable. The new material was able to demonstrate its long service life and wear resistance in the in-house 3,800 square metre igus test laboratory. Here it was shown that iglidur A250 has a service life up to 10 times longer than other igus FDA-compliant materials at maximum belt speeds.

For years, knife edge rollers made of iglidur tribo-polymers have been proven solutions in the food industry when it comes to transporting products over knife edge transitions that are restricted by installation space. Thus, if two conveyor belts for very small products are joined together, the radii of the guide rollers result in a gap between the belts. A problem for raw croissants, biscuits or even cakes. They can quickly slide into the gap between the conveyor belts. For safe transfer of the pasta from belt to belt, the deflection radii between the belts of the flow lines must therefore be kept small. This is where the knife edge rollers come into play, because they are compact and safely guide the belts. Besides iglidur A250, igus also offers the materials iglidur H1, P210 and other food grade solutions such as A180 and A350 in its knife edge roller product range.