Plain bearings for prostheses and orthoses

Lightweight, robust and low-wear

Prostheses and orthopaedic splints are designed to make life easier and provide greater freedom of movement, and the demands placed on them are correspondingly high. The material should be able to withstand the strain, but at the same time not be too heavy so as not to tire the wearer. It should be able to be used anywhere, for swimming in salt or chlorinated water, in sand, in plus and minus temperatures. Even creams and medical products should not restrict its function or stress the material. Plastic bearings from igus are made for precisely such applications and fit perfectly into designs with high requirements.

Advantages of iglidur plain bearings:

No stick-slip effect
Shock absorbing
Low coefficients of friction
Silent
Resistant to impact and edge loads
Resistant to media
Insensitive to dirt
Lubricant-free

Products often used with prostheses and orthoses

iglidur W300

For particularly long service life in continuous operation
Low coefficient of friction, extremely high abrasion resistance
Suitable for rough shafts and stainless steel shafts
Dirt resistant

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iglidur bar stock

iglidur materials as round rods, tubes and plates
Currently 25 iglidur materials to choose from
Cut to desired size without waste removal
Mechanical processing from quantity 1

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Various special bearings customised by igus to your specific requirements

Customised component

In desired shape and material from quantity 1
Fast production
Suitable for prototypes, small and large series
Large selection of high-performance materials

Special and drawing parts

Test motion plastics free of charge

Improve technology, reduce costs: try out for yourself how it works in furniture construction applications. Order our free sample boxes for plain bearing and linear technology now.

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Customer application examples

Hip joint prosthesis with iglidur bearings by Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH

95% less wear in hip prosthesis
iglidur Z bearings ensure maintenance-free, extremely resilient bearing points with excellent damping on the main axes of this hip prosthesis. The resulting forces, under oscillating movement, are reliably transmitted by the bearings without any noticeable increase in clearance. Tests in the igus test laboratory have shown: iglidur material exhibits 95% less wear here than PA66 and PTFE.

Fingers of a Vincent Systems GmbH hand prosthesis with iglidur plain bearings

Delicate movements with an electric hand prosthesis
High demands are placed on plain bearings in finger and hand prostheses. They must have low coefficients of friction, require no additional lubricant, be suitable for use with soft shafts, be vibration-damping and resistant to chemicals. At the same time, they should enable a functional and aesthetic design. All axes involved in the movement were therefore equipped with iglidur J plain bearings.

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Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH knee joint prosthesis with iglidur piston rings

Quick assembly and long durability
This joint prosthesis was fitted with iglidur J piston rings, which can be clipped onto the piston thanks to their opening and flexible material. This makes installation very easy and shortens the installation time. Previously, PTFE guide bands were used on the pistons, but these wear out much more quickly in comparison and therefore have to be replaced more frequently.

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Tested in the igus test laboratory with regard to service life and wear

All products are tested for wear and load capacity under real-life conditions in the igus test laboratory, the largest in the industry.The results are incorporated into our online tools for service life calculation and enable exact predictions of durability.

Upon request, igus performs customer tests to check product use under specific conditions.

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