Company
Wolf Kunststoff-Gleitlager GmbH
50+ years of experience
Our company now offers over 50 years of experience in the production, development and processing of high-performance plastics.
According to requirements, no more and no less – w/o unnecessary safety properties
The company was founded based on this credo by Mr. Wilfried Wolf in the late ’60s. He began to fill up both knowledge and far-sightedness gaps present in the high performance & engineering plastics market merging customer support in materials selection to the sales of stock shapes.
Few years later, the company area was expanded introducing the machining department, tribological tests on materials were introduced (1972) in the brand new laboratory and the volume production was started by injection moulding. In the late ’80s the company invests in the first extrusion and compounding lines focusing on the manufacturing of the new developed ZEDEX® materials.
After these first important steps, the company Wolf took its flow and was continually improved and expanded over the years, and since the beginning of this century Mr. Gunter Wolf, son of Mr. Wilfried Wolf, has expanded the manufactoring area and improved the laboratory with test benches, mechanical and thermal analyses.
Cross-process Know-How and responsibility from a single source is the base of our success and one of the very great advantages we offer to our customers.
Cross process Know-How and Responsibility in one hand
Valuable creativity is restricted by lack of knowledge & foresight, communication problems and the resulting limitations. A product passes through more steps during its developing. Normally the processing is the bottleneck of the creativity, and it does not let your idea to be incorporated in the product. In the same way, the developer has not possibilities, to be creative in doing the compound formulation. Besides, unwanted aggravating influences are added between the various processes, such as e.g. characteristics’ changes of the material during machining, since processing conditions are often not specified or followed. The interactive influence and the information flow between the various processes can & must be efficiently used for the product conception.
From the idea to the end-product, we offer our customers the possibility to lean back and relax whereas we establish & realise all the process step of their successful product, reacting flexibly and creatively where needed.
WOLF: YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP FOR TRIBOLOGICAL POLYMER SOLUTIONS
Of course if wished the customer can always decide to enter into the process chain in a later point than the beginning or to jump out of it before the end. Have a look to the process steps below
ZEDEX® R&D
Polymer testing, compound development and damage analysis
R&D build the foundation of our success. We do it since 1972 in our own laboratory in Kerpen, Germany. Through intensive research and continuous development of materials, our high performance plastics ZEDEX® have exceptional properties.
If the material for a specific application is not be present in our product range, we can modify an existing material making it suitable for the application or even develop it specifically. Our key competences are modifications to optimise tribological properties.
In failure cases of your components, we can mostly determine the cause of the malfunctions through mechanical tests, thermal tests, micro or macroscopic examinations of the defective parts. Optionally, we recommend you our appropriate high performance polymer ZEDEX® for your application.
ZEDEX® DESIGN
Since 1968 we resolve problems, which come into being using plastic for machine elements.
A component made of plastic should be designed respecting the requirements, without having unnecessary safety properties. Every type of over-dimensioning has got negative effects, both economically and technologically. Only through experience, know-how and creativity, this target can be achieved.
We provide our support dimensioning your technical components and designing them suitable for material, processing condition and applied loads. We inform you about the optimal shape and thus, how to obtain the maximum efficiency.
ZEDEX® PRODUCTS
Semi-finished, granules, 3D tribofilament, coating
We offer you the high performance plastics ZEDEX® in almost any shape:
- As semi-finished with a finely coordinated range of dimensions
- As cut-offs
- As granules for further processing e.g. in the injection moulding
- As 3D tribofilament for additive 3D printing
- As coating to optimise the tribological properties of the pairing.
Additionally we offer tailor-made products as compound, blends and semi-finished based on construction and high-performance polymers such as PAI, PEEK, PEI, PESU, PET, PK, POM, PVDF, PPS, PU, TPI, PPSU, LCP, ETFE, PVDF etc.
ZEDEX® MANUFACTURING
Extrusion, injection moulding, machining, 3D printing, casting
We manufacture your component according to your drawing or you name your application and we design your component according to your requirements. No matter if extruded & machined, injection moulded or 3D printed, we determine the optimal manufacturing process for each component.
For the pump & naval sector we produce our new Blue Water & Dirty Water products by casting. These are available as cast semi-finished product or as bushing according to the customer’s drawing or based on our design.
ZEDEX® SOLUTIONS
Final parts such as precise plain bearing, slotted bearing, stave bearing, half shell bearing, foil bearing, hydrodynamic bearing, slideway, spindle nuts, track roller, gear, seal, scraper, wear part and insulating part, metal-plastic part, 3D printed part etc.
Since 1968 we have begun to successfully introduce plastic materials’ components from us designed, manufactured and made of engineering & high-performance ZEDEX® polymers, in fields of application considered visionary. We have learned a lot in our path, but our most precious spring of our Know-How is formed by the results of material tests and subsequently by those of the components, that we have been conducting since 1972.
Our core competences are modifications to optimise the tribological properties (no maintenance, transfer layer – dry running – wear resistance – low friction), nevertheless on construction & high-performance polymers we carry out all the usual and unusual modifications as well, e.g. fibre reinforcing, detectability, thermal and electrical conductivity, colouring, antistatic properties, mechanical resilience, thermal stability etc.
Through our experience we understand how technical components work and which reactions and processes inside the plastic materials take place during the use and which modifications are necessary to reduce negative reactions.
Timeline of the company Wolf Kunststoff-Gleitlager GmbH
1968
Establishment
- Establishment company “Wilfried Wolf Kunststofftechnik”
- Trade with plastics with integrated material selection
1970
Expansion
-
Manufacturing of machined finished parts
1972
Start of tribological tests
- Introduction of tribological material testing
1978
Volume production
- 1. Volume production of injection moulded parts to the tractor industry
1980
Name change
- Company name changed to Wolf Kunststoff-Gleitlager GmbH
- Triplication of the production area
1985
Extrusion
-
Introduction of the first extrusion line for the production of semi-finished products
1987
Compound development
-
Introduction of the production of plastic compounds
1989
1st compounder
- Commissioning of the 1st compounder for the production of plastic compounds
1993
Component testing
- Introduction of test benches for plain bearing bushes and spindle nuts
1995
Expansion
-
Opening of foreign production
2000
Additional shareholder
-
Mr. Gunter Wolf is appointed managing partner
2001
Laboratory 2.0
- Expansion of the laboratory with mechanical and thermal analyses
2002
Damage analysis
-
Introduction of the component and damage analysis
2004
Dispatch time
- Quadrupling of the storage space to shorten the dispatch time
2008
Expansion
- Expansion of the company area to 3800 m²
2010
Extrusion
- Large hollow rods extrusion up to 380 mm in diameter
2011
Laboratory 3.0
- Triplication of the laboratory space
- Start of optimised fatigue tests (Eplexor)
2013
Plate extrusion
- Expansion of plate extrusion, capacity and dimensions
(w = 1220 mm & thk=100 mm)
2014
PU – polyurethane
- PU-based material development for hollow rods up to 2000 mm in diameter
2016
Cooperation
- Start of cooperation with perfluorence GmbH in the field of reactive extrusion and tribochemical reactions
2017
Filament extrusion
- Start of filament extrusion for 3D printing
2018
3D printing
- Production of customer components in ZEDEX materials through FFM / FFF process
Here you will find more information about our high-performance polymers.
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News
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Material selection
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Heisenbergstr. 63-65
Industrial area II
50169 Kerpen-Türnich
Germany
Telephone +49 2237 / 9749-0
Fax +49 2237 / 9749-20