chainflex® Test Report: CF98.05.04

1. Materials testing: In accordance with customer requirements, new materials are being developed for conductors, insulation, or jacket materials, etc. This involves developing significant differences that are not immediately apparent, specifically for conductors and jacket materials. Tests refer to up to eight different chainflex® standards.

The lab team has more than 50 different test rigs and machines at its disposal. A wide variety of travel distances (ranging from 1 foot to 394 feet) are available; in addition, horizontal and suspended applications can also be implemented.

2. Design validations: This involves the systematic evaluation of new fixtures, production processes, and the related impact on service life. In the past, these reviews in particular have demonstrated that ostensibly equivalent production processes can nevertheless result in significant differences in moving applications.

Special purpose testing stations for wear and media testing, which test under significantly more realistic testing conditions than the exposure and aging tests conducted based on UL or VDE, are specifically used for materials development. These have significantly contributed to the fact that igus® outer jacket materials are more specifically tuned to the materials in energy supply systems, therefore guaranteeing the best possible reliability.

3. In-process quality testing: In accordance with certain selection algorithms, cables are randomly selected after production has been completed and subjected to standard tests customarily used for cable production and special igus® tests. The lab may test up to 10% of all produced cables in long-term bending tests, and performs the required structural examinations.

Naturally, all tests currently being conducted on more than 600 test cables are systematically and effectively documented. After all, these 600 test cables quickly mean that approximately 5000 measurement locations need to be continuously monitored.

4. Service life endurance testing: These test projects may need to allocate up to 4 years, and examine the actual maximum service life of selected cables.

The chainflex® lab conducts tests in a variety of conditions so that the aforementioned tests are conducted in a purposeful, systematic, and reproducible manner.

In addition to the igus® testing standards, which establish specific rules for the tests and ensure comparability, the necessary framework conditions must be created

5. Customer-specific applications: A special service consists of customer-specific testing in accordance with igus® standards.

These tests are based on customer specific motion sequences of the application, and, in the case of particularly critical applications, have the significant advantage that the tests can define the limits and any available optimizations before mass production begins.

This early detection is particularly important when drawing conclusions about any required adjustments. After the test is concluded, all cables are disassembled into their constituent components, tested and documented in detail.