Head contact pressure and slow speed sliding test on coated magnetic disks

An analytical method to determine apparent contact pressure between a coated magnetic disk and head during show speed sliding is proposed. Results of analysis show that as sliding velocity increases, contact force gradually decreases but apparent contact pressure peaks at a velocity slightly lower than that of the trailing edge take-off. In this study, a slow speed head sliding test was performed to compare the analytical and experimental results. Validity of contact pressure analysis was confirmed through friction force measurement during the test. However, disk lifetime change with sliding velocity did not coincide with that of the peak contact pressure. This indicates that the contact pressure has little effect on the sliding test lifetime.