Sliding at the Cam Mechanisms

Abstract

Sliding can occur on the various places at the cam mechanism (e.g. roller placing on the pin as a plain bearing). However, this paper deals with sliding between cam and cam follower. There are two types of followers at the cam mechanisms. The roller follower has more complicated construction as other types of followers. On the other hand, it has an advantage that in contact surfaces does not arise a high friction force. Roller follower has the advantage of lower friction (rolling) than the sliding contact of the other types of followers, but it can be more expensive. A ratio describing value of the sliding is called slide/roll ratio. It is dependence of mutual velocities of the sliding/rolling surfaces. A lot of parameters influences on sliding between cam and roller follower. Very important is friction between contact surfaces. A value of the SRR has influence on the service life of the contact surfaces. Sliding can lead to surface damage. The most common is abrasive and adhesive wear. The paper deals short with this two types of damage and protection against them.