Analytical and Experimental Characterization of Ball-groove Contact Problems

Ball-groove contact problems are often encountered in machine design. The analytical modeling of the resulting stress-strain behavior is however difficult, as it implies the necessity to deal with the non-linear Hertzian theory of point contacts. This work addresses the limits of applicability of the available analytical approaches for the calculation of ball-V groove couplings employed in ultra-high precision positioning. The analytical results are validated experimentally via high-precision measurements.