Second Paper: An Investigation into the Mechanism of the Frictional Damping of Machine Tool Slideways

The damping action of a plain slideway is considerably influenced by a number of parameters and is difficult to assess. It has been necessary, therefore, to obtain experimental data from adequately scaled experiments. The major emphasis is placed on the influence of polar additive lubricants as they offer considerable advantages in stabilizing feed drives at low feed speeds. This paper describes an investigation into the mechanism of the interaction between vibration in the direction of motion and the vibration normal to the plane of the slideway interface. Steady-state characteristics do not give an adequate guide to the damping action of a machine tool slideway. All the work discussed in this paper is restricted to vibration amplitudes that do not cause the instantaneous velocity of the feed drive to be reversed.