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igus test laboratory: Research on 5,500m²
Proven, predictable, tested
At igus, we want to develop innovative materials and products that work in real life and offer our customers added value. To achieve this, it is our goal to keep improving ourselves and our solutions, in line with our motto: Tech up, cost down!
Our products offer you a long service life, which extends the operating time of your machines and applications, eliminates maintenance work and reduces costs. For our engineers, the quality and safety of workpieces, i.e. their resilience and service life, are important criteria in development. Every igus product is tested thoroughly before it is made available for sale. To this end, we have been operating our own test laboratory since 1985. It is not only the largest in the industry in terms of area that examines tribo-polymers, but also the one with the highest number of product tests and analytical procedures - and thus the basis of our guarantee of up to four years.
This page offers you the following details regarding our test laboratory
What is tested?
Our facilities for testing applications and materials cover over 5,500m². Every business sector has its own test laboratory, and we test some product areas together:
- 2,000m² outdoor test area for energy chains and chainflex cables with particularly long travels
- 1,500m² test area for chainflex cables in our own energy chains
- 1,500m² Test Area in the new factory hall
- 300m² test area for iglidur plain bearings, drylin linear bearings and Low Cost Automation - the latter partly under real conditions in quality assurance
- 200m² Test Area for igus:bike and bicycle components
To develop new cleanroom-compatible products more quickly, we operate our own cleanroom laboratory with an ISO Class 1 cleanroom system in collaboration with the Fraunhofer IPA. An outdoor test area, a laboratory for noise tests and the climate chamber at -40°C dreaded by igus employees complete our Test Area. To achieve most realistic conditions, we also test customer applications and conduct standard industry tests.
We would love to test your application as well
You don't want to make experiments and would like to subject your application to a material test before using it? Or you have an unusual application for which you need a suitable component? No problem! We will test your application in our test laboratory and use our know-how to find the best igus solution for you. No matter whether plain bearing, energy chain, cable, linear technology, bar stock or Low Cost Automation.
How many tests are conducted in the igus laboratory?
Every year, a considerable number of tests and material analyses are carried out at our 742 test facilities:
- Over 17,000 tests in total, around 5,000 of them with e-chains and chainflex in addition to approx. 12,000 with dry-tech (rotating, pivoting, linear, tumbling, heated, underwater etc.)
- 10 billion e-chain cycles
- 3,500 tested cables
- 1,000 customised tests
- Up to 800 tests running in parallel
What happens to the test data?
The use of testing data does not stop after development. Since 2001, we have been developing innovative online tools and, since 2016, sensor-based smart plastics that use the database of our test laboratory results. With these tools, the economic efficiency and reliability of our products can be determined quickly and very easily online around the clock. This provides our customers with a high degree of transparency and enables them to find the most cost-effective, functioning solution to their problem. More than 40 free tools are available, including Long Life Calculator, configurators for product comparison, product finders, product and CAD configurators as well as our predictive maintenance with i.Cee.
Have a virtual tour through the laboratory
Would you like to take a look around our laboratory?
No problem: you can visit all areas easily from your home or your office via a virtual tour. Just click on the button below, select the desired lab area on the home page and follow the arrows to the next stop of your visit. Click on the numbers for more information about the tested product.
