Effect of thermal deformation on machine tool slide guide motion

This paper describes the effects on machine slide-guide contact conditions caused by thermal deformation. Since a slide guide has a large friction surface, the motion is greatly influenced by thermal distortion caused by heat generation in the ball nut and the bearing support, during machining processes. This study investigated the typical behavior of the friction coefficient in response to both the external load and the linear speed. This then led to investigating the thermal effects on the slide motion. The thermal deformation of the slide table was measured with respect to the running time and the linear motion and the frictional power were monitored and compared directly with the thermal distortion.