It has been shown that machine tool thermal distortion can account for 75 per cent of the total machining error. As a result there has been a great deal of interest in techniques for reducing thermal errors. The approaches taken to thermal error reduction can be divided into two broad categories of reducing structural temperature change and reducing the effect of structural temperature change. This paper discusses a number of representative examples of applied thermal error reduction techniques that utilize machine design and compensation. The paper appraises these techniques, highlighting their relative merits. Based on this appraisal the requirements for a general thermal error reduction technique are established.
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