Treotham igus iglidur A181 spherical ball

To make food industry machines and systems even safer, Treotham has introduced the igus iglidur A181 high-performance plastic as a spherical ball material for the igubal Food Contact (FC) joint system. The spherical ball is designed to have three times the wear resistance of its iglidur FC180 predecessor, cost 25% less and is lubrication-free, maintenance-free, hygienic and compliant with FDA and EU 10/2011.

The FC joint system housing is still made of igumid FC — a robust, corrosion-free high-performance plastic that is resistant to moisture, acids, alkalis and UV radiation. Recently, however, the spherical ball inserted into the housing has been switched from FC180 to iglidur A181.

Using the FC joint system with the new A181 spherical ball can improve the hygiene of machinery and equipment in the food industry. Unlike metallic spherical bearings, it requires no external lubricant that dirt and dust can stick to and cause a potential contamination risk. Instead, igus incorporates a solid lubricant into the material that is released automatically over time, ensuring low-friction, hygienic dry operation. Both the housing and the new spherical ball material are thus compliant with FDA and EU 10/2011.

To further improve hygiene, both bearing housing and spherical ball are dyed blue, a colour on which food residue and mould spores can be quickly identified during cleaning checks and that facilitates optical detection in the case of machine damage. Food-compliant, detectable additives are also integrated into the housing material. In an emergency, they allow metal detectors to find even the tiniest fragments — in the range of one tenth of a gram.