Behavior of ultrathin liquid lubricant films for contact sliders in hard disk drives

In this paper, we describe the behavior of ultrathin liquid lubricant films for contact sliders in hard disk drives. In the experiments, the ultrathin liquid lubricant film behavior is investigated using Zdol and cyclotriphosphazene-terminated PFPE lubricant which have different end groups as a function of lubricant film thickness. The disks are examined with a scanning microellipsometer before and after contact slider experiments. It is found that the lubricant film thickness profiles almost do not change, when the lubricant film thickness is less than one monolayer. It can also be observed that lubricant film thickness instability due to dewetting occurs as a result of slider-disk contacts for the tested lubricants and the films undergo spontaneous redistributions, resulting in significantly nonuniform film thickness profiles, when the lubricant film thickness is thicker than one monolayer. In addition, it is found that the observed behavior of ultrathin liquid lubricant films for cyclotriphosphazine-terminated PFPE lubricant contrasts markedly with that for Zdol. The difference between cyclotriphosphazene-terminated PFPE lubricant and Zdol is only the functional end group. Therefore, it may be concluded that their unstable lubricant behavior depends on the chemical structure of functional end groups.     

Adaptive multilevel method for the air bearing problem in hard disk drives

An adaptive grid-generating algorithm is constructed and integrated with the multigrid method to form a numerical scheme that suits slider air-bearing simulation of hard disk drives. The relative truncation error, a by-product of the multigrid method, is used in grid adaptation criteria. Finer meshes are constructed over nodes of the current finest grid where the relative truncation error exceeds a predetermined tolerance. The union of these finer meshes forms a new level of grid, which may not cover the entire domain of the coarse grid underneath. The final grid system thus constructed is composed of levels of uniform grids with decreasing mesh sizes. This composite grid structure incorporates with numerical resolution as needed and efficiency of computation. A shaped rail, negative pressure slider is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of this numerical scheme. Compared with the traditional multigrid method, the proposed adaptive multilevel method can significantly reduce the computation work for achieving the same level of accuracy.     

计算机硬盘磁头滑块的设计与加工研究

研究计算机硬盘磁头滑块承载面结构的设计理论与加工方法。分析了现有磁头滑块的结构特点及其设计理论和设计方法;利用光刻及干法刻蚀的工艺及设备,进行了所设计磁头滑块的微加工;并利用三维表面形貌测量仪对所加工的磁头进行了加工质量分析,给出实验测量值与设计值的比较结果。     

Observation of Slider Landing Process in Hard Disk Drive

With the decrease in slider flying height, slider flying instability caused by slider–disk interactions is becoming a big concern. Novel technology has to be employed to further improve our understandings about slider–disk interaction. In this work, a slider flying height-attitude testing (3D) system was employed to study slider–disk interaction during a slider landing process to demonstrate its capability for the application. It is shown that great details of slider–disk interactions and subtle variations of the slider flying attitude during the landing process can be revealed with the 3D system. Slider dynamic flying height and attitude (pitch and roll angles) during the landing process can be determined from the data recorded in one test. Furthermore, analysis in frequency domain can be done not only on flying height, but also on pitch and roll angles directly. It is found that the slider landing process can have different stages during which slider performance and characteristics of slider–disk interaction are different.     

Mode localization in a rotating mistuned turbo disk with Coriolis effect

An investigation of the speed effect, i.e., the effects of centrifugal and Coriolis forces, on the mode localization of a mistuned blade-disk is presented in this paper. A disk comprising of periodically shrouded blades is used to simulate the weakly coupled periodic structure. Galerkin method is employed to derive the mode localization equations of the mistuned system with the consideration of Coriolis force. The blades are approximated as cantilever beams, and five axial and lateral modes of each blade are used to present the dynamic behavior of the system. Ten modal coordinates have been considered for each blade. The effects of Coriolis force and the magnitude of disorder on the localization phenomenon of a rotating blade-disk system were investigated numerically. Numerical results obtained herein indicate that the Coriolis force may enhance the localization phenomenon.     

Contact-induced off-track vibrations of air bearing-slider-suspension system in hard disk drives

Contact-induced vibration of air bearing-slider-suspension system is a crucial issue for slider flying stability and head positioning precision of 1 Tbit/in² hard disk drives. In this paper, the contact-induced off-track vibrations of air bearing-slider-suspension system are investigated by simulation. A dynamic simulator is developed to calculate the interactions between the air bearing dynamics and vibrations of slider-suspension assembly. The simulation model consists of a finite element model of suspension assembly, an air bearing model based on the generalized lubrication equation, and a slider–disk contact model based on the probability distributions of surface roughness. A sequential method is used to couple all these models and analyses. The time history of the slider and suspension motions, together with the time-varying forces including air bearing force, air shear forces, contact force and friction force can be obtained. The effects of different contact conditions, such as the contact intensity, friction coefficient, and disk surface waviness on off-track vibrations are investigated numerically in details. The results reveal some mechanisms on how these factors contribute to the off-track vibrations of suspension assembly.     

Analysis and measurement of torque hysteresis of pivot bearing in hard disk drive applications

During hard disk drive (HDD) operation in the track-following, short seek and seek settling modes, the motion of the actuator, which is supported by a pivot bearing cartridge, has very small amplitudes. The effect of hysteresis friction from the pivot bearing becomes significant, impacting servo performance. Often such effects are not well understood and thus, it is not being taken into consideration during servo design. A study of the hysteresis friction behaviour of pivot bearings is presented. An integrated test apparatus for pivot bearing analysis was designed and built where a Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV) was used to accurately measure the displacement and velocity of the actuator for feedback control. Using this test apparatus, the hysteresis friction behaviour in both frequency and time domain was analysed. The effects of pre-load, oscillating magnitude and oscillating frequency were investigated. The results obtained can now be used for servo design and pivot bearing evaluation.     

Detecting oscillation amplitude and defects of hard disk rotating in high speed by laser Doppler technique

Laser Doppler technique is widely used in industry for the purpose of detecting vibration and oscillation. Many researchers have found that using non-contact laser vibrometry to measure surface roughness of disk under dynamic status is more difficult than that of the static condition. In this paper, we proposed a laser Doppler technique for the purpose of measuring the oscillation amplitude and defects of hard disk rotating in high speed. Laser light source, optical Doppler system, detector and data process system were integrated in our experimental system. The whole system was calibrated using a sinusoid generator. The method for converting the measured voltage signals into the corresponding size data was described in detail. It was found that the average size of defects of the hard disk in our experiment is from 1 μm to 5 μm. The developed technique may be useful for quality control in real time in mass production processes.     

硬盘磁头超薄气膜润滑研究进展

介绍硬盘磁头发展状况以及超薄气膜润滑理论的研究现状，提出超薄气膜润滑研究中存在的问题，如10nm以下一毪行间隙的润滑理论模型、超薄气膜润滑有效的数值计算方法，以及建立飞行高度试验台和开发磁头气体轴承设计分析软件模块等问题，并介绍一种新型有效的计算磁失磁盘超薄气膜的数值计算方法。     

Calculation of oil‐film thickness in journal bearings running at varying rotational speeds

There are many methods of calculating the properties of lubricated hydrodynamic sliding bearings running at variable loads, but, in some cases, sliding bearings of heavy‐duty machines run under constant load and at variable speeds; this can lead to reduced film thickness in the bearing and boundary lubrication. The minimum oilfilm thickness in such a bearing needs to be calculated so that the proper lubricant viscosity can be selected to reduce solid‐solid contact during machine operation. In this study, a method is presented for calculating the film thickness of sliding bearings operating with alternating rotational directions. The results of the calculations show that the squeeze effect can develop enough load‐carrying capacity to prevent solid‐solid contact between the rubbing surfaces during operation, provided the change of direction of rotation is quick enough.     

Possibility of surface force effect in slider air bearings of 100 Gbit/in hard disks

The recording density has been increasing in a high rate of 60% per year in the last 10 years. In the next several years it is expected that the recording density will be 100 Gbit/in² and then 1000 Gbit/in². It is said that a spacing of about 5 nm will be necessary for 100 Gbit/in². For two solid surfaces with such a small spacing, it is expected reasonably that the surface force will come into action. In this paper, numerical analysis was conducted to explore the possibility of the surface force for the slider air bearing working with respect to the glide avalanche. The numerical results show that surface force reduces the stiffness of the slider air bearing and the load carrying capacity as well. It is worth noting that, although the decrease in the load carrying capacity may not be significant, the reduction in the stiffness may be critical for many cases. The reduction in the stiffness of slider air bearings due to the surface force may be one of the most important mechanisms of the glide avalanche. The predicted take-off height to overcome the surface force is about several nano-meters. Increasing the pitch angle tends to decreases the take-off height. A lubricant film of about 1 nm will reduce the risk of the glide avalanche in some extent, but increasing the film thickness has little effect.     

Thermal effect in hydrodynamic lubrication of line contacts-Piezoviscous effect neglected

Thermal effect in high-speed rolling element bearings has been investigated numerically following a computationally efficient method developed by Elrod and Brewe [11. Viscous shear heating effects on both film thickness and rolling friction are investigated for a line-contact geometry assuming fully flooded lubrication. Thermal load-carrying capacity and rolling friction of the line contact have been numerically calculated for varying rolling speeds from 5 to 40 m/s and dimensionless film thickness between 10⁻⁴ and 10⁻³. Results indicate marked influence of viscous shear heating on the load-carrying capacity, film thickness and rolling traction at high rolling speeds. Neglecting thermal effect at high rolling speeds would lead to gross overestimation of load capacity, film thickness and traction. Results are presented for pressure and temperature distribution within the contact for various rolling speeds and film thicknesses.     

The effect of ZDDP in CVT fluid on increasing the traction capacity of belt-drive continuously variable transmissions

Belt-drive continuously variable transmissions are already being increasingly used in Europe and Japan for small vehicles, but midsize vehicles will require greater torque capacity. This paper discusses the effect of ZDDP as an additive on increasing the traction obtained at the sliding interfaces between the elements and pulleys of a belt-drive continuously variable transmission (B-CVT). This effect stems from the higher friction coefficient at the sliding interfaces. Friction coefficients were measured in rig tests in which test pieces cut from actual CVT elements were slid against a disc in different types of CVT fluid (CVTF). After the tests, the adsorbed films on the specimen surfaces were investigated with electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), and compared with pieces cut from elements subjected to a high torque test conducted with the B-CVT. The experimental results indicated that the higher friction coefficient at the sliding interfaces was due to the shearing of the tough adsorbed film. The film was blue in colour, and consisted mainly of zinc precipitated from the ZDDP additive.     

A study of the synergistic effect of a triazine‐dithiocarbamate derivative with tcp in vegetable oil

A novel, potential ashless S—N‐style additive, 2‐(N,N‐dibutylamino)‐4,6‐bis‐(dibutyldithiocarbamate)‐1,3,5‐triazine (DBTT), was synthesised and its synergistic tribological effect with a traditional additive, tricresyl phosphate (TCP), in rape seed oil was evaluated using a four‐ball tester. The results show that the load‐carrying capacity of the vegetable oil could be improved greatly by the presence of the TCP and/or DBTT additives; at certain mass ratios TCP and DBTT show a good synergistic effect in improving the tribological performance of the base oil. The elemental composition and chemical nature of antiwear films generated at a steel interface were investigated using Kevex energy dispersive X‐ray analysis and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopy was also used to study the rubbed surface morphology. It was found that FeS, organosulphur compound, sulphate, phosphate, and nitrogen‐containing compounds were present in the complex boundary lubrication film.     

Lubrication characteristics analysis of slipper bearing in axial piston pump considering thermal effect

In this study, the lubrication characteristics of a slipper bearing for axial piston pump considering oil thermal effect have been investigated. A mathematical model is developed to predict the film thickness and temperature on the slipper/swash plate interface under different operating conditions. Based on the mathematical model, a parametric study is conducted to evaluate the slipper lubrication performance. It is found that the slipper is characterised by an unstable behaviour and the behaviour is enhanced by lower pressure and higher rotational speed. As the film temperature increases rapidly due to high shaft speed and piston chamber pressure, the overall result is a rather low decline in the film thickness. The leakage flow rate increases with increasing speed or oil film thickness. The structure parameter can be optimised to obtain satisfactory slipper performance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.