Example 12: tested, CF21.UL and CF27.D in a service life comparison

Long-term investigation of the chainflex® servo cable

Regular production tests increase the functional reliability of machines. In addition to tests in igus® 's own laboratory, where new structures, materials and customer requirements are constantly analysed, igus® also carries out tests during production.

In addition to batch tests, which reveal any production-related faults immediately and offer the user maximum safety, long-term tests are carried out time and again. These long-term tests, which can take up to four years - and make the expense of such systematic test series clear - are necessary if the constantly growing demands of the market are to be met.

This also applies to the long-term testing of the chainflex® servo cable families CF21.UL and CF27.D. These servo cables, which are based on the modular system and differ only in their inner and outer sheath materials, were tested in the laboratory for 2.5 years at a radius of 100 mm, a travel distance of approx. 8 m, an acceleration of approx. 6 m/s² and a speed of approx. 3.5 m/s. The number of cores/core was deliberately kept to a minimum.

A wire count/cross-section combination was deliberately selected which is very popular in mechanical engineering, but which also leads to failure in many normal - so-called chain-compatible - cable assemblies due to its highly asymmetrical structure.