Enhancement of head-disk interface durability by use of diamond-like carbon overcoats on the slider´s rails

Author

Bogy, David B. ; Yun, Xiaohan ; Knapp, Bradley J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mech. Eng., California Univ., Berkeley, CA, USA

Volume

30

Issue

2

fYear

1994

fDate

3/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

369

Lastpage

374

Abstract

Al₂O₃TiC sliders used in magnetic recording hard disk drives were coated with diamond-like carbon (DLC) to improve the wear durability of the head-disk interface (HDI). Both contact-start-stop and constant speed drag tests were conducted during which the build up of friction associated with wear of the thin film disks was measured in a standard disk wear tester. The friction values increased three or fourfold in the tests with uncoated sliders, whereas tests conducted with DLC coated sliders showed only a twofold increase in friction in the early part of the test followed by constant friction values afterwards. This major improvement was found for as little as 7 nm of coating on the sliders. Increases of wear durability of the head-disk interface by factors of 50-200 were obtained

Keywords

carbon; drag; friction; magnetic disc storage; magnetic heads; magnetic recording; wear resistant coatings; 7 nm; Al₂O₃; Al₂O₃-TiC sliders; Al₂O₃TiC-C; TiC; constant speed drag tests; contact-start-stop tests; diamond-like C overcoats; friction; head-disk interface durability; slider rails; wear durability; Cascading style sheets; Coatings; Diamond-like carbon; Friction; Lubricants; Magnetic levitation; Plasma displays; Plasma properties; Protection; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.312289

Filename

312289