The effects of texture height and thickness of amorphous carbon nitride coating of a hard disk slider on the friction and wear of the slider against a disk

In order to minimize the stiction force caused by contact of the extremely smooth surfaces of head sliders and disks in hard disk drives, texture is usually applied on the disk surface. For future contact/near-contact recording, the stiction-induced high friction between slider and disk will become a problem. Texture on the slider/disk interface will still be an expected method to reduce friction. Recently, it was suggested to texture the slider surface. A protective coating is usually required on the textured slider surface to reduce wear of the texture. The results showed that texture on the slider surface was effective in reducing the friction between head sliders and disks. On the other hand, the texture and coating on the slider surface increase the spacing between the read/write element and the magnetic layer of the disk. The necessary and effective texture height and coating thickness are still not clear. In the present research, island-type textures with different heights (3–18 mn) were formed on slider surfaces by ion-beam etching. Amorphous carbon nitride (a-CN_x) coatings of different thicknesses (0–50 nm) were coated on the textured slider surfaces as a protective overcoat. The friction and wear properties of these sliders were evaluated by constant-speed drag tests against hard disks coated with diamond-like carbon (DLC). The results show that 2 nm texture on a slider surface is sufficient for low (0.3–0.5) and stable friction of the slider against the disk in a drag test, and coatings thicker than 5 nm show similar wear resistances of the texture on slider surfaces.     

Carbon-Coated Sliders and Their Effect on Carbon Oxidation Wear

Alumina-titanium carbide composite sliders used in magnetic recording were coated with diamondlike carbon (DLC) to permit exploration of their effect on tribochemical wear. For comparison, testing was performed on both coated and uncoated sliders. Gases sampled directly from the sliding interface between a carbon-coated thin-film magnetic recording disk and the slider contained carbon dioxide in both dry nitrogen and dry oxygen environments. In the oxygen environment, uncoated sliders produce carbon dioxide at a rate 10 times greater than coated sliders. This suggests that catalysts in the slider composite material are necessary for carbon oxidation wear.     

Tribological performance of nano-thin fluoropolymer coated sliders

With the increase in recording density, any accumulation on slider surface can cause serious problems, such as high fly–stiction and extensive slider–disk interaction. Therefore, how to mitigate the accumulation on slider surface and thus, improve the stability and reliability of head–disk interface is becoming an important issue. In this work, a nanothin fluoropolymer overcoat with very good oleophobic and hydrophobic properties was applied on slider surface with a dipping process. Tribological performance, such as fly–stiction, normal stiction, and takeoff and landing processes, of the coated sliders was studied. Test results show that although normal stiction is not lowered, normal stiction modulation is reduced obviously by the overcoat. Fly–stiction and its modulation of coated sliders are much smaller than those of uncoated sliders. Coated sliders show much better takeoff and landing performance during contact start stop tests. After tests, the surfaces of tested sliders and disks were examined with an optical microscope, surface reflectance analyzer, and TOF–SIMS to interpret the tribological performance of the coated sliders. It can be concluded that the fluoropolymer overcoat reduces the amount of accumulation on slider surface and thus, improves the tribological performance of the coated sliders.     

Surface‐capped molybdenum sulphide nanoparticles — a novel type of lubricant additive

Compounds containing molybdenum sulphide are widely employed as friction‐modifying and antioxidant additives in lubricants. However, the synthesis of these types of compound can often be complex and expensive. Tribologically active lubricant additives can be prepared as inorganic nanosized surface‐capped particles, the surfaces being coated with compounds that interact and/or react with the inorganic material. This paper reports on the synthesis and characterisation of surface‐capped molybdenum trisulphide nanoparticles. The synthesis was carried out using a reverse micellar system. The size and composition of the nanoparticles were determined, and their tribological properties as lubricant additives were compared with those of commercially available additives. It was found that the surface‐capped molybdenum sulphide nanoparticles show good friction‐modifying and anti‐scuffing behaviour.     

Role of Head Parameters on Head-Disc Interface

The effect of a nanoslider's crown, camber, twist and suspension load are parametrically studied and compared from a tribological standpoint. In this paper, stiction, friction, and contact start-slop (hereafter CSS) were performed on a modified disc drive equipped with a special strain gauge. For convex (positive crowned and cambered) sliders, up to five to six times reduction in rest stiction can be easily attained compared to flat sliders. This also applies to drives which have been turned off and turned on after one week.

Flat sliders with much of the air bearing surfaces etched away are, also studied. The patterned sliders did not reduce stiction when tested on a lightly textured disc coated with a lube system consisting of mobile and bonded phases.

The normal suspension force and weight of the slider when bonded together determine the apparent slider contact between the disc surface asperities. The reduction in contact area from six to four grams suspension load on the asperities is about 24 percent.

The effect of convex slider improves the disc durability during CSS. It is believed the geometry allows the convex-shaped magnetic slider to take off from the disc surface sooner than flat ones. That was observed by Lee and Bolasna. The concave slider will reduce stiction also because of smaller contact area. However, its inability to take off early results in catastrophic disc wear. Once in flight, the sliders are insensitive to the convex or concave effect.     

Wear and frictional behaviour of MoS2 pellets and steel lubricated with MoS2 powder

The wear and frictional behaviour of compressed pellets of molybdenum disulphide (MoS₂) were measured when the pellets were slid against a 0.45% C steel disk in air. The wear of the MoS₂ pellets decreased with increasing sliding velocity and increasing contact pressure. These factors are indicated by a parameter μPV which corresponds to the frictional heat. A thin deformed surface layer on the sliding surface of an MoS₂ pellet was different from the MoS₂ substrate.The wear of a bearing steel slider against mild steel was reduced by an MoS₂ film in air and in vacuum. The specific wear rate of the slider and the coefficient of friction were influenced by the degree of vacuum.     

The Role of Atmospheric Oxidation in High Speed Sliding Phenomena—II

An experimental study of the role of oxidation due to frictional heating in unlubricated high speed (13000 ft/min) sliding of metals is discussed. Detailed results for steel on steel have been described in another paper (1). This paper discusses a general picture correlating the results for several metal combinations and also a bonded metal carbide. The results indicate that the oxidation gives considerable protection against surface damage. With copper on copper (previously run-in), copper on steel, and bonded tungsten carbide on bonded carbide relatively little tearing of the metal (or carbide) is observed at light loads. The oxidation should increase with increasing load, and these combinations behave like steel on steel in that on at least one of the surfaces there is, if anything, even less metallic tearing at high load. At low loads wear is mild, in harmony with the oxide protection, but at higher loads severe wear is attributed to disintegration within the oxide itself. With nickel on nickel the oxidation fails to prevent fairly severe metallic tearing even at high loads. Some consequences of these phenomena in the variation of friction, wear and surface damage with load, speed and sample geometry are described.     

Role of Rubber Stiffness and Surface Roughness in the Tribological Performance on Ice

The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of slider surface roughness and stiffness on the friction between rubber compounds and ice surfaces in order to provide insight into rubber–ice friction generation mechanisms. For this purpose, rubber compounds were designed to have different levels of macroscopic roughness and cured stiffness by modifying the filler system and plasticizer loading. In order to accurately evaluate the effects of surface and bulk rubber property on ice friction, linear friction tests were performed on laboratory ice with varied frictional heat buildup by modifying the friction test protocol. The results showed that the friction force was in general increased through the ploughing effect of a rough rubber block sliding on smooth ice. The increase in friction by ploughing was more pronounced when the contacting rubber block had sufficiently low stiffness and when the accumulation of frictional heat on ice was sufficiently high. It was also evidenced that a sufficiently hard rubber with test conditions leading to low heat buildup on ice could nevertheless lead to an opposite influence of roughness on rubber–ice friction; that is, lower friction force with a slider with a higher roughness.     

Wear mechanism of disc-brake block material for new type of drilling rig

To improve friction and wear performance and service life of the disc-brake pair material of a drilling rig, a new type of asbestos-free frictional material with better performance for disc-brake blocks is developed, and its wear mechanism is investigated by friction and wear experiments. Topography and elementary components of the brake block’s wear surface are analyzed by employing SEM and EDAX patterns, revealing its tribological behaviour and wear mechanism. When the frictional temperature is lower, the surface film of the brake block is thinner, dense, smooth with plasticity, and divided into the mixture area, Fe-abundant area, carbon-abundant area and spalling area. The mixture area consists of various constituents of frictional pairs without ploughing and rolling trace. The Fe-abundant area mainly consists of iron and other constituents. The carbon-abundant area is the zone where graphite and organic fibre are comparatively gathered, while the spalling area is the zone where the surface film is spalled and its surface is rough and uneven, with a loose and denuded state. During the period of high frictional temperature, the frictional surface is also divided into the mixture area, Fe-abundant area and spalling area. In this case, the mixture area consists of abrasive dust from friction pairs, and the surface film is distributed with crumby hard granules, exiguous oxide, carbide granules and sheared slender fibre. The Fe-abundant area is mostly an oxide layer of iron with a flaky distribution. Fracture and spalling traces as well as an overlapping structure of multilayer surface films can be easily found on the surface film. The components of the spalling area are basically the same as that of the matrix. At the beginning of wear, the hard peaks from the friction surface of the disc-brake plough on the surface of the brake block. With increasing frictional temperature, the friction surface begins to soften and expand, and oxidized wear occurs at the same time. During the high-temperature wear period, severely influenced by friction heat, obvious softening and plastic flow can be found on the friction surface of the brake block, its anti-shearing ability is weakened, and adhesive wear is intensified. Thermal decomposition of cohesive material in the brake block is simultaneously strengthened, so that constituents shed due to loss of adhesion. Organic fibre is in a flowing state and obviously generates drawing, shearing, carbonization and oxidization. In addition, thermal cracking, thermal oxidization, carbonization and cyclization of organic substances on the surface of brake block can make the friction surface produce pores or cracks, thus fatigue wear occurs.     

Wear mechanism of disc-brake block material for new type of drilling rig

To improve friction and wear performance and service life of the disc-brake pair material of a drilling rig, a new type of asbestos-free frictional material with better performance for disc-brake blocks is developed, and its wear mechanism is investigated by friction and wear experiments. Topography and elementary components of the brake block’s wear surface are analyzed by employing SEM and EDAX patterns, revealing its tribological behaviour and wear mechanism. When the frictional temperature is lower, the surface film of the brake block is thinner, dense, smooth with plasticity, and divided into the mixture area, Feabundant area, carbon-abundant area and spalling area. The mixture area consists of various constituents of frictional pairs without ploughing and rolling trace. The Fe-abundant area mainly consists of iron and other constituents. The carbon-abundant area is the zone where graphite and organic fibre are comparatively gathered, while the spalling area is the zone where the surface film is spalled and its surface is rough and uneven, with a loose and denuded state. During the period of high frictional temperature, the frictional surface is also divided into the mixture area, Feabundant area and spalling area. In this case, the mixture area consists of abrasive dust from friction pairs, and the surface film is distributed with crumby hard granules, exiguous oxide, carbide granules and sheared slender fibre. The Fe-abundant area is mostly an oxide layer of iron with a flaky distribution. Fracture and spalling traces as well as an overlapping structure of multilayer surface films can be easily found on the surface film. The components of the spalling area are basically the same as that of the matrix. At the beginning of wear, the hard peaks from the friction surface of the disc-brake plough on the surface of the brake block. With increasing frictional temperature, the friction surface begins to soften and expand, and oxidized wear occurs at the same time. During the high-temperature wear period, severely influenced by friction heat, obvious softening and plastic flow can be found on the friction surface of the brake block, its anti-shearing ability is weakened, and adhesive wear is intensified. Thermal decomposition of cohesive material in the brake block is simultaneously strengthened, so that constituents shed due to loss of adhesion. Organic fibre is in a flowing state and obviously generates drawing, shearing, carbonization and oxidization. In addition, thermal cracking, thermal oxidization, carbonization and cyclization of organic substances on the surface of brake block can make the friction surface produce pores or cracks, thus fatigue wear occurs.     

Tribological properties of nickel-based self-lubricating composite at elevated temperature and counterface material selection

Solid lubricating materials are necessary for development of new generation gas turbine engines. Nickel-based self-lubricating composites with graphite and molybdenum disulfide as lubricant were prepared by powder metallurgy (P/M) method. Their tribological properties were tested by a MG-2000 high-temperature tribometer from room temperature to 600 °C. The structure of the composite was analyzed by XRD and worn surface morphologies were observed by optical microscope. The effects of counterface materials on tribological behavior of composites were investigated. It was found that chromium sulfide and tungsten carbide were formed in the composite by adding molybdenum disulfide and graphite, which were responsible for low-friction and high wear-resistance at elevated temperatures, respectively. The average friction coefficients (0.14–0.27) and wear rates (1.0–3.5 × 10⁻⁶ mm³/(N m)) were obtained for Ni–Cr–W–Fe–C–MoS₂ composite when rubbed against silicon nitride from room temperature to 600 °C due to a synergetic lubricating action of graphite and molybdenum disulfide. The optimum combination of Ni–Cr–W–Fe–C–MoS₂/Ni–Cr–W–Al–Ti–C showed lower friction than other counter pairs. The graphite played the main role of lubrication at room temperature, while sulfides were responsible for low friction at high temperature.     

Unlubricated sliding frictional behaviour of oxide films on plasma nitrocarburised steel

The sliding frictional behaviour of oxide films formed on low alloy steel by the combined plasma nitrocarburising and post oxidation treatment has been investigated. Unlubricated sliding tests of the as-nitrocarburised and nitrocarburised-oxidised specimens showed that the frictional behaviour depends not only on the oxidation treatment conditions, but also on the counterface material and the testing conditions. When sliding against a steel counterface, all the tested specimens exhibited similar frictional behaviour, which is dominated by the material transfer from the counterface to the sliding surface. On the other hand, when sliding against an alumina slider, all the oxidised specimens exhibited a low friction regime. The duration of this low friction regime depends on the treatment and test conditions, with the low temperature oxidised/nitrocarburised specimen being the most durable. The mechanisms associated with the observed frictional characteristics are discussed in terms of material transfer and the structure and mechanical integrity of the films.     

Spectroscopic and scanning probe studies of oxygen and water on metal carbide surfaces

Spectroscopic and scanning probe techniques were applied to the study of clean, (100) single-crystal surfaces of titanium carbide (TiC) and vanadium carbide (VC), and their interactions with oxygen and water. We find that oxygen adsorbs dissociatively on both surfaces, but discriminates between them by reacting with TiC to form an oxide while forming a metastable overlayer on VC. Water bonds molecularly and dissociatively at low temperatures and behaves similarly on both materials. These results are interpreted in the context of surface electronic structure. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Friction and Wear of Glass

A combination if electron photo micrographs and sensitive friction measurements indicate that the dry friction if glass may be due to surface melting under frictional heat. Stick slip phenomena are examined and the characteristic “tear drop” scratch is seen to be composed if a widening track if fused cracks ending in a “circular spot” if fused glass. Low temperatures or lubrication prevent this. For short durations at low loads, temperatures, and sliding speeds, most lubricants gave the same friction and wear results. When conditions become more severe or time more extended, various classes if lubricant excellence can be found. Wear measurements following “run in” indicate that with proper lubricants and operating conditions glass bearing surfaces can be operated at high loads and high temperatures.     

The Effect of Humidity on Low-Load Frictional Properties of a Bonded Solid Film Lubricant

Low-load slow-speed sliding friction tests were conducted on a MoS₂/graphite (90/10) bonded solid film lubricant in controlled-humidity environments. The average steady-state coefficient of friction increased from 0.23 to 0.28 as relative humidity (RH) was raised from 10 percent to 50 percent, and it increased to 0.6 when RH reached 90 percent.

At RH ≥80 percent, friction response was strongly influenced by chemically reactive metals used for slider and lubricant substrate. Thus, friction with carbon steel sliders was significantly lower than with stainless steel sliders, although corrosion of the former caused rapid destruction of the lubricant film. Also, continued sliding by stainless steel on lubricant applied to phosphor-bronze eventually resulted in a significant friction decrease and simultaneous formation of a dark red-brown film in the wear track. The proposed explanation for these effects is based on oxidation of MoS₂ at the sliding interface and reaction of the oxidation products with slider and substrate metals.     

新型弧面摩擦阻尼器力学性能研究

为克服传统摩擦阻尼器自适应能力差及耗能能力低的缺点,提出了一种新型弧面摩擦阻尼器,该阻尼器的结构特征在于其摩擦板和滑块的滑移面均为弧形,两滑块之间装有压缩橡胶,阻尼器通过摩擦板与滑块之间的移动产生摩擦力实现耗能。建立了阻尼器的机理模型,并采用数值模型验证了机理模型的合理性,分析了加载频率和橡胶弹簧初始压缩量对阻尼器滞回阻尼特性的影响规律。研究结果表明：该新型阻尼器具有马鞍形滞回曲线,其摩擦力具有位移随变性;该阻尼器的耗能能力比传统摩擦阻尼器强,耗能能力最多提高了23.84%;其力学性能与加载频率相关性较小,而橡胶弹簧预紧力越大,阻尼器的滞回耗能能力越强。     

Kinetic frictional behaviour of alumino-silicate ceramics

The frictional behaviour was experimentally investigated of alumino-silicate ceramics (3Al₂O₃, 2SiO₂) rubbing against a hard steel surface under static and kinetic friction conditions. Tests were carried out on a pin-on-disc machine under both dry and wet contact conditions. Results showed that the frictional behaviour under either static or kinetic conditions was highly dependent on the ceramic body phase transformation which in turn was controlled by the firing temperature during ceramic processing and treatment. Lower friction values were evident when using specimens of ceramic bodies containing a high mullite crystalline phase, which are attained at high firing temperatures. Both the running speed and applied loads had insignificant effects at high loads.During kinetic friction tests lower frictional values were displayed than for static friction tests under wet contact conditions, and under dry conditions when using high mullite ceramic bodies. For specimens of ceramics fired at relatively low temperatures, kinetic friction tests produced higher frictional values than static friction tests.     

Wear transition diagram for silicon carbide

To obtain information on the tribological behaviour of silicon carbide at elevated temperatures, unlubricated ball-on-flat wear tests were conducted on sintered silicon carbide in self-mated sliding in air. The contact load was varied from 3.2 to 98.0 N, and a temperature range of 23°C to 1000°C was used. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy were used to elucidate the wear mechanisms. The results of the tests and observations were employed to construct a wear transition diagram, which provides a summary of tribological information including friction coefficient, wear coefficient and wear mechanisms as a function of temperature and load. The wear transition diagram for the sintered silicon carbide studied is divided into four regions plus one transition zone. At room temperature, under high loads and high environmental humidity, the tribological behaviour is controlled by tribochemical reactions between the silicon carbide surface and water vapour in the environment. Under low loads and at temperatures below 250°C, wear occurs by ploughing and polishing. At temperatures about 250°C and under low loads, tribooxidation and formation of cylindrical wear particles control the tribological behaviour. Wear occurs by microfracture when the load is increased above a critical value; and both the friction coefficient and the wear coefficient increase.     

Wear Resistance of Amorphous-Crystalline Coatings with Lubricants

The results of tests of a Zr–Al–B boundary friction detonation coating in a wide range of changes under friction conditions have been presented. A comparative analysis of the obtained characteristics of friction and wear in order to evaluate the tribotechnical properties of amorphous-crystalline coatings has been carried out. These results have been compared with parallel tests of coatings based on tungsten carbide, samples of hardened steel and bronze, and the bearing of the sliding layer. The formation of solid solutions has been established and the introduction of oxygen in zirconium that corresponds to the formation on the friction surfaces of the secondary structures of the first type, a characteristic feature of which is their surface localization, ultra-dispersed structure, and ability to minimize disruption and shield unacceptable adhesion phenomena. The use of the Auger electron microscope confirmed that oxygen completely replaces the sulfur in the surface structures.     

Fretting wear of sintered alumina

Cylinders of alumina, carbon steel, glass and tungsten carbide have been fretted against rectangular specimens of sintered alumina. The damage caused has been assessed by four-point loading bend tests. Coefficients of friction of the contacting surfaces have been measured. These vary from 0.32 to 0.85 but do not correlate with the strength results. Alumina, glass and tungsten carbide produce no effect in fretting. This is due to the absence of adhesion between the surfaces. Fretting against steel increases the bend strength owing to blocking of the surface pores by iron.