Tribology, contact dynamics and contact forces of near contact recording sliders

Experimental and numerical investigations of slider disk contacts in a computer hard drive are presented. Laser textured disks were fabricated and the tribological performance was investigated. Slider disk transient contacts were analyzed using time frequency analysis and wavelet transform. A new method is presented to measure contact forces of slider disk contacts using acoustic emission analysis and laser Doppler vibrometry. A modal model and a finite element model for slider disk impacts is presented. Acoustic emission sensors, PZT crystals, and laser Doppler methods are employed to investigate slider dynamics. Nonlinear dynamic effects at the head/disk interface are studied as a function of lubricant thickness and disk velocity.