Development of a ta-C Wear Resistant Coating with Composite Interlayer for Recording Heads of Magnetic Tape Drives |
| |
Authors: | Ehsan Rismani S K Sinha H Yang S Tripathy C S Bhatia |
| |
Affiliation: | (1) Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Block EA, #07-08, Singapore, 117576, Singapore;(2) Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, Block E4, #05-45, Singapore, 117576, Singapore;(3) Institute of Material Research and Engineering (IMRE), A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology, and Research), 3 Research Link, Singapore, 117602, Singapore; |
| |
Abstract: | The effect of two different surface modification methods on the wear life of the coating of magnetic tape drive heads has
been studied. In this research, the heads were coated with 10 nm tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) film using filtered cathodic
vacuum arc (FCVA) technique. The surface of the heads was pretreated by bombarding with energetic carbon ions or by developing
a Si–Al–C composite interlayer before deposition of the coating. The coated heads were tested at a real head/tape interface
of a tape drive. Surface characterization and tribological behavior of the head coatings with and without surface modification
has been studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and scanning electron microscopy
(SEM). The results reveal that the ta-C coating without any surface modification is not durable and the coating fails due
to delamination. Pre-treating the head surface with energetic carbon ions improves the durability of the coating, especially
on the head read/write elements; however, the coating of the head ceramic substrate is still partially delaminated. The application
of a Si–Al–C composite interlayer is shown to be able to solve the delamination problem effectively and increase the wear
life of the coating up to six times in comparison with the sample pretreated with carbon ions. The formation of strong chemical
bonds between the head surface and the overcoat is found to be an important factor in improving the durability of the ta-C
head coating. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|