Oil-repellent treatment of a flying slider in a hard disk drive

The effectiveness of various oil-repellent treatments was evaluated by measuring the contact angles of mineral oil on the surface of a slider of a hard disk drive. The contact angle on an untreated slider was 20°; it was 51° on a slider dipped in FAS solution (2-(heptadecafluorooctyl)-ethyltrimethoxysilane) and heated to 393 K; 68° on a slider dipped in FASI solution (a octadecafluorooctane solution of FAS treated by hydrolysis and polymerization) and heated to 393 K; 80° on a slider vapor-deposited with FAS solution at 433 K; 80° on a slider dipped in FASI solution after ultraviolet radiation (UV) and heated to 393 K; and 81° on a slider irradiated by UV after being dipped in FASI solution. These results indicate that a compact coating of FAS can be formed, even on the slider surface of a carbon film with few hydroxyl groups, by treating the surface with FAS solution or FASI solution.