Ramp wear induced contamination and its effect on load/unload performance

The mechanism and characteristics of ramp wear in load/unload disk drives i s investigated by examining the lift tab and the disk surface after load/un load testing using scanning electron and optical microscopy. The effect of contamination on the load/unload performance is studied by introducing poly mer particles near the disk surface. The results indicate that ramp wear is a combination of delamination and abrasive wear. Acoustic emission measure ments show that contamination can cause head/disk contact during load/unloa d, which in turn may cause disk damage.