Wear control in a variable-pitch lead screw with cylindrical meshing elements

In this paper various surface-treated materials for screw and roller were studied under rolling-sliding conditions. A wear data bank for a twin-roller test was created for selection of wear-resistant material and was correlated to the variable-pitch cylindrical cam (VPCC) and allowable specific wear rate (SWR). If allowable wear loss as well as applied load are calculated according to engineering requirements and the data bank contains a number of SWR values it would be easy to determine which surface treatment would meet these requirements. Cost, anti-corrosion and deformation induced by heat treatment should also be considered. The wear mechanisms for the surface-treated steels were identified to help the process of material selection.