Tribological and mechanical properties of carbon-coated sliders and disks manufactured by various vendors were evaluated using atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and nano-indentation testing in the presence of ultrasonic excitation. The Raman spectra of carbon-coated sliders were found to differ significantly from the Raman spectra of carbon-coated disks. The tribological properties of carbon-coated commercially available sliders did not show substantial differences regardless of the manufacturer. The same result was observed for commercially available disks manufactured by different manufacturers. Dynamic nano-indentations in the presence of ultrasonic excitation indicate discontinuities which are correlated to overcoat thickness.

The touch-down and take-off characteristics of a typical pico-type magnetic recording slider is investigated as a function of pressure level and groove dimensions of discrete track recording (DTR) media. Keeping the ambient pressure constant, we found that the touch-down velocity was higher for DTR disks than for “smooth” disks without discrete tracks. Likewise, the “ambient” touch-down pressure at constant velocity was found to be higher for DTR disks than for smooth media. The hysteresis between touch-down and take-off velocity and touch-down and take-off ambient pressure was found to be larger for DTR media than for smooth media. Start/stop tests on discrete track media were performed to investigate the effect of grooves of discrete track media on the tribology of the head/disk interface.

The effect of material properties and surface roughness on the contribution of asperities and sphere bulk displacements to the total displacement of a rough spherical contact is investigated. A dimensionless transition load, above which the contribution of the bulk displacement exceeds the contribution of the asperities displacement, is found as a function of the plasticity index and dimensionless critical interference of the sphere bulk. A criterion is proposed for evaluating the importance of surface roughness in calculating the displacement of a rough spherical contact. Some experimental results with a spherical micro-contact are presented to verify the model.

To increase the storage density of hard disk drives, the flying height of the slider needs to be reduced to <10 nm. This requires super-smooth surfaces of the disk and slider. As the roughness decreases, stiction and adhesion are found to increase substantially leading to failures of the head/disk interface. Texturing the slider surface is a well-known approach to this issue. In this study we investigated laser ablation as a potential process for texturing magnetic recording sliders. It was found that straight laser machining caused unwanted re-deposition of material. These deposits could be significantly reduced by using a chemical etching enhanced laser process.

The relationship between the adhesion of surfaces separated by a molecularly thin liquid film and the surface energy of the film was investigated. AFM-based force–distance curves were measured on a series of carbon surfaces coated with hydroxyl-terminated perfluoropolyether (PFPE) films. The surface energy of the PFPE films was varied by altering either the total film thickness or the bonding ratio of the film by changing the concentration of the PFPE film in the solution and/or the pull-rate during dip-coating. A linear relationship between adhesion force and surface energy was observed. Adhesion was found to vanish at non-zero values of surface energy. The experimental results indicate that the adhesive force between macroscopic bodies separated by molecularly thin liquid films is linearly proportional to the excess surface energy of the film.

“Flyability” tests were conducted with sliders designed for discrete track recording disks. Laser Doppler vibrometry and acoustic emission were used to characterize the dynamics of the sliders as a function of discrete track parameters. Lubricant depletion was observed depending on the slider nominal flying height. Comparison of experimental results with numerical predictions showed good qualitative agreement.