Service Life: Service Life of Electric Linear Slides and Electric Cylinders

The life of an electric linear slide and electric cylinder is generally affected by the rolling fatigue life of its ball screw, guide and ball bearing. When stress is applied repeatedly to the raceways and the rolling ball, flaking (a phenomenon in which the metal surface turns into small scale-like pieces and separate from the base metal) occurs due to material rolling fatigue.
The rolling fatigue life refers to the time until the flaking occurs.
An expected life is calculated for each product based on its maximum ratings (maximum load mass, maximum speed, load moment, etc.) as a reference for calculating the product's life.

Reference for Expected Life Distance in Each Series

Series Lead 12 mm Lead 6 mm Lead 3 mm
EAS Series 5000 km 3000 km 1500 km
EZS Series
(Including those for clean room use)		 5000 km 3000 km −
EAC Series 5000 km 3000 km 1500 km
Series Lead 30 mm Lead 20 mm
EZSH Series 20000 km 20000 km

The expected life distance of the guide part of electric linear slides/electric cylinders (equipped with shaft guide) is designed with reference to the life of each series.
However, under conditions where the load moment formula is greater than 1, the expected life distance will be less than the expected value.
Use the formula below to approximate the expected life distance.
For calculation of the load moment, refer to "Calculation of Load Moment."

$$\begin{align} \text{Expected life distance}(\mathrm{km})= 5000\mathrm{km}^* \times \left(\frac{1}{\frac{|\Delta \mathrm{M_P}|}{\mathrm{M_P}}+\frac{|\Delta \mathrm{M_Y}|}{\mathrm{M_Y}}+ \frac{|\Delta \mathrm{M_R}|}{\mathrm{M_R}}} \right)^3 \end{align}$$
  • *The expected life distance varies depending on the product. Refer to the table above for details.

Technical Reference