As the head-disk spacing reduces in order to achieve the areal density goal of , the dynamic stability of the slider is compromised due to a variety of proximity interactions. Lubricant pickup by the slider from the disk is one of the major reasons for the decrease in the stability as it contributes to meniscus forces and contamination. Disk-to-head lubricant transfer leads to lubricant pickup on the slider and also causes depletion of lubricant on the disk. In this paper, we experimentally and numerically investigate the process of disk-to-head lubricant transfer using a half-delubed disk, and we propose a parametric model based on the experimental results. We also investigate the dependence of disk-to-head lubricant transfer on the disk lubricant thickness, lubricant type, and the slider air bearing surface (ABS) design. It is concluded that disk-to-head lubricant transfer occurs without slider-disk contact and there can be more than one timescale associated with the transfer. Furthermore, the transfer increases nonlinearly with increasing disk lubricant thickness. Also, it is seen that the transfer depends on the type of lubricant used and is less for Ztetraol than for Zdol. The slider ABS design also plays an important role, and a few suggestions are made to improve the ABS design for better lubricant performance.
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e-mail: rohit.ambekar@hitachigst.com
e-mail: dbogy@cml.me.berkeley.edu
e-mail: elebcs@nus.edu.sg
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July 2009
Research Papers
Lubricant Depletion and Disk-to-Head Lubricant Transfer at the Head-Disk Interface in Hard Disk Drives
Rohit P. Ambekar,
Rohit P. Ambekar
Graduate Student
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: rohit.ambekar@hitachigst.com
University of California
, Berkeley, CA 94704
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David B. Bogy,
David B. Bogy
William S. Floyd Jr. Distinguished Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: dbogy@cml.me.berkeley.edu
University of California
, Berkeley, CA 94704
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C. S. Bhatia
C. S. Bhatia
Professor
Department of ECE,
e-mail: elebcs@nus.edu.sg
National University of Singapore
, Singapore 117576, Singapore
Search for other works by this author on:
Rohit P. Ambekar
Graduate Student
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of California
, Berkeley, CA 94704e-mail: rohit.ambekar@hitachigst.com
David B. Bogy
William S. Floyd Jr. Distinguished Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of California
, Berkeley, CA 94704e-mail: dbogy@cml.me.berkeley.edu
C. S. Bhatia
Professor
Department of ECE,
National University of Singapore
, Singapore 117576, Singaporee-mail: elebcs@nus.edu.sg
J. Tribol. Jul 2009, 131(3): 031901 (8 pages)
Published Online: May 27, 2009
Article history
Received:
October 16, 2006
Revised:
April 14, 2009
Published:
May 27, 2009
Citation
Ambekar, R. P., Bogy, D. B., and Bhatia, C. S. (May 27, 2009). "Lubricant Depletion and Disk-to-Head Lubricant Transfer at the Head-Disk Interface in Hard Disk Drives." ASME. J. Tribol. July 2009; 131(3): 031901. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3139045
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