Suffice it to say, pretty much everything about 2020 has been out of the ordinary, and our recap of the top linear motion articles for this year is no exception. For the first time in recent history, only one (1!) of the top 10 articles is about ball or lead screw technologies — a topic that usually dominates our year-end list. Instead, it’s clear that in 2020, our readers were interested in going “back to basics,” with articles about engineering fundamentals such as mechanical properties of materials and motor drive torque calculations dominating the list.

In case you missed any of these important topics, here’s our look back at the top 10 most-read linear motion articles of 2020.

#10: Mechanical properties of materials: Stiffness and deflection

While we often think of materials and structures in terms of strength, technically, “strength” is a measure of how much force a material can withstand before permanent deformation or failure occurs. For proper running of linear guides, actuators, and other motion components, however, it’s typically more important to know how much deflection the object will experience under a given load — in other words, the more important property is the object’s stiffness.

NEXT PAGE →