Variation of the heat flux between a slider and air bearing when the slider flies over an asperity

A quasi steady heat transfer model is introduced to study the mechanism of the variation of the heat flux between a slider and air bearing when the slider flies over an asperity without contact. The simulation results show that the heat flux is related to the air bearing spacing. When a slider flies over an asperity, its flying height fluctuates, which causes the air bearing spacing to fluctuate, and this in turn causes the heat flux between the slider and the air bearing to fluctuate. Corresponding to a decrease of the flying height, the heat flux out of the slider increases and vice versa. The variation of the heat flux causes a variation of the temperature of the Magnetoresistive (MR) transducer, and therefore a variation of the amplitude of the read-back signal.