With household appliances, everything revolves around the iglide® plain bearing

In the first version, a brass bearing was used, but this conducted the current, which is not permitted in this application. The second version made of ceramic could also not be used due to the high costs.

With the special material iglidur® RN24, a maintenance- and lubrication-free material could be used that requires no additional grease or oil. Thanks to the good coefficient of friction and the performance, the service life requirements were exceeded threefold in the customer's test.

The first material for the mounting and functionality of this rotary knob was brass. However, as brass is conductive, it was rejected by the electronics department at V-Zug after the first tests. The designers at V-Zug then tried a ceramic solution. Although the material impressed with its hardness and precision, it was ruled out as an alternative, mainly due to its high price. The idea of testing plastic solutions was then developed with igus®.
 
For over 30 years, igus® has been developing and manufacturing plain bearings that are used millions of times in industry. Over the years, igus® has developed a wide variety of materials with different specifications, making the bearings suitable for more and more areas of application. The spectrum ranges from economical iglide® all-round bearings to "food-grade" bearings and bearings made of materials that are suitable for high-temperature or underwater applications. All materials have in common that they do not have to be lubricated externally with oils or greases. The iglide® bearing materials are all made of thermoplastic materials. Embedded in them are usually fiber reinforcements to increase the compressive strength as well as solid lubricants, which optimize the wear resistance and coefficient of friction.