Preload variation due to temperature increase in double nut ball screws

Ball screws are robust and economic linear positioning systems that are widely employed in high speed and high precision machines. Due to precision and stability requirements, the preload force has been considered one of the main parameters in order to define the axial rigidity and the maximum axial load capacity of ball screw feed drives. In high speed motions, thermal effects are also considerably relevant regarding positioning precision and dynamic stability of the machine. The temperature increase and the thermal gradient between the screw, the balls and the nuts led to a variation in the contact geometry and consequently in the preload force. This paper presents an experimental analysis of the preload variation due to the temperature increase. The study has been performed for several initial preload forces and linear speeds in a preloaded double nut ball screw. The heating of the system results in a decrease of the preload force, where a maximum decrease of 60 % has been observed for a temperature increase of 28 K in the test bed of the study. Regarding the consequences of the loss of rigidity, the first eigenvalue decreased by only 5 % for a preload drop of 33 %.