Experimental study on head-disk interaction in ramp loading process

This paper presents results of experimental study on the head-disk interaction in ramp loading process. The experimental set-up consists of an optical interferometer-used to measure the flying height variation, a high sensitivity PZT force sensor-used to measure air bearing force history, and an AE sensor-used to monitor the head-disk contact. A head-gimbal assembly (HGA) with a suitable load/unload suspension and a pico-format slider (30%) were employed. Two samples, with different static attitude settings, were tested under different loading velocities. The effects of loading velocity and static attitude on the loading stability of the pico-slider are discussed.