The extended EU Directive 2011/65/EC (RoHS II) became valid at the beginning of the year, therefore tightened the permissible limits for hazardous substances in more and more areas. From the 22nd July, products with unacceptably high concentrations, such as lead-containing plain bearings face extinction in the Medical Technology industry. igus offers iglidur polymer bearings as a RoHS-compliant alternative that promises legal and functional reliability to the manufacturer, and safe use and disposal to the user.

Since the mid-1990s, limitations on the use of environmentally hazardous substances were enforced for electrical and electronic devices and their components all over Europe. Steadily tightened guidelines under the abbreviation "RoHS", (Restriction of [the use of certain] Hazardous Substances) set limit values for the use of industrially-necessary but potentially harmful substances such as, chromium, lead, mercury or bromine. With the new RoHS II standard, a maximum value of 0.1% of the total weight is determined for most. Many manufacturers changed their production accordingly in the past, and others must now respond because exemptions, such as for the medical and control technology, will expire this month. Since similar regulations are also put in place in countries such as the USA, Japan or China, these standards must be met increasingly with a global perspective. However, metallic composite bearings often have alloys that are not compliant with RoHS.

Customers, who consider the RoHS compliance, have an immediate alternative with iglidur bearings. This is because the substances covered by the Directive basically have no role to play in this material made of thermoplastic compounds. Based on the principle of dry lubrication, the iglidur bearing technology uses tribologically optimised base polymers, solid lubricants and fillers of exclusively non-metallic and RoHS-safe ingredients.

The provisions of the RoHS Directive are also subject to permanent review and thus there is the possibility of future revisions of the legal requirements. Manufacturers, whose equipment and components today fulfil the admissible limits, or are even excluded from the standards today, must expect a further tightening. iglidur polymer bearings provide planning reliability today. In addition to their "traditional" advantages of freedom from maintenance and lubrication, all igus products are without hazardous substances. RoHS compliance is therefore one of the natural features of iglidur plain bearings. The igus plain bearings are safe not only in terms of laws and regulations. By the option of life prediction and configuration using online tools, all metal bearings can be replaced quickly and easily by iglidur plain polymer bearings.

Santhosh Jacob, Product Manager, iglidur, igubal, xirosigus (India) Private Limited, Bangalore. Tel: 080-45127810. Mobile: 095352-00466. Email: santhosh@igus.in