Effect of Flying Pitch and Roll Angles on Lubricant Transfer Between Disk and Slider

In this paper, the effect of flying pitch angle and flying roll angle on lubricant transfer from the disk to the slider was experimentally studied. A flying height tester, which can measure flying pitch angle and flying roll angle of a slider, was used to study lubricant transfer from the disk to the slider without head/disk contacts. Transparent glass disks with a thin layer of lubricant were used. A charge-couple device camera was used to observe in situ, the lubricant transfer and lubricant flow on the slider surface, while time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry was used to identify lubricant distribution on the slider surface after the test. The experimental results showed that lubricant flow follows the slider skew direction, i.e., lubricant flow goes toward the outer trailing edge (TE) of the slider when it flies at the inner diameter, and toward the inner TE of the slider when it flies at the outer diameter. In addition, flying roll angle plays a more dominant role than flying pitch angle on lubricant transfer from the disk to the slider.