Measurement of non-elastic asperity compliance of magnetic tapes

Cyclic loading and unloading is applied to investigate elastic and non-elastic effects of asperity compliance of magnetic tapes. Multi-wavelength ellipsometry is used to measure the optical constants of the magnetic tapes needed in the calculation of the contact spacing. The magnetic tapes investigated are found to be optically anisotropic along different directions. Plastic deformation of highest asperities is observed during the first load cycle. The effects of tape surface roughness on asperity compliance is investigated by analyzing the statistics of the highest asperities.