Some critical tribological issues in contact and near-contact recording

Critical tribological issues concerning contact and near-contact recording arise naturally as an extension of similar concerns for conventional air bearing recording systems. Issues of surface conformity, spacing variation, and impact response become even more important in light of the smoother surfaces and more restrictive magnetic spacing requirements. The authors present results of studies in these areas. First, they consider the friction variation around a track of a read-write head sliding in contact with a thin film disk. A measure of conformity is sought between the surfaces whose variation will correlate with the friction variation. Next, the authors study some important issues related to spacing variation for flying sliders by measurement and simulation. Finally, the slider dynamics associated with asperity contact is simulated for advanced sliders.<>