Effect of air bearing design on wear of diamond-like carbon coated proximity recording sliders

The effect of air bearing design on the wear behavior of diamond-like carbo n (DLC) coated sliders is investigated as a function of "interference heigh t" and calculated contact force for sub-ambient pressure proximity recordin g sliders with contact stiffness of 1 and 0.25 mN/nm, respectively, The wea r rate of DLC coated sliders was measured using Raman spectroscopy during t rack seeking of 1-h duration on a spin-stand and 1000-h duration in a 2.5-i n. hard disk drive. In addition, the effect of air bearing design on flying height variations caused by a change in the static gimbal attitude and a c hange in altitude was estimated. The results show that wear of DLC coated s liders is proportional to the calculated contact force and that wear of the DLC overcoat levels off, after 10km sliding distance regardless of slider design. Furthermore, we found that the amount of wear of the DLC overcoat f or track seeking tests of 1-h duration is almost the same as that for a tra ck seeking test of 1000-h duration. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ ts reserved.