The Dependency of Takeoff Velocity and Friction on Head Geometry and Drive Configuration

Wear at the head-disk interface of magnetic recording devices is dependent on the contact sliding distance between the head and disk. The sliding distance is dependent on the head takeoff velocity and frictional drag. In this study, the dependence of takeoff velocity and friction on selected head parameters was measured with an air bearing spindle equipped with a strain gauge. For the thin film head, crown had the greatest influence on takeoff velocity, followed by bolt pattern runout, suspension preload, camber, skew angle, and rail width in decreasing order. For the metal-ingap head, ski jump had the greatest influence. The rest of the parameters followed in the same order as they did for the thin film head. Twist and edge blend did not affect takeoff velocity, but larger edge blends did improve contact start-stop performance. Lower mass disk stacks did better in contact start-stop tests because of their shorter sliding distance before reaching the takeoff velocity or after achieving the landing velocity. Finally, both crown and skew angle affected the coefficient of friction between the head and disk. Heads with a more positive crown or zero skew angle had the lowest coefficient of friction.