Effect of Pressure and Temperature on Lubricant Transfer from Disk to Slider in Helium-filled Hard Disk Drives

Helium, proved to be a good medium to reduce windage loss and disk flutter [1–3], has been filled in hard disk drives in recent years to improve storage [4]. Meantime, lubricant transfer between slider and disk has been widely studied due to the decreasing space between the slider and the disk [5–6]. We know that helium can greatly reduce the flying height of a hard disk drive. But question arises as to how the lubricant transfers in helium-filled hard disk drives. In this paper, a model of slider with a cylindrical asperity flying over a disk in helium-filled hard disk drive was developed. The pressure and temperature distribution at helium-filled head/ disk interface was obtained by calculating Reynolds equation and energy equation. Thereafter, the effect of pressure and temperature on lubricant transfer from disk to slider in helium-filled hard disk drives was numerical simulated using molecular dynamics.