Continuous stiffness measurements of layered materials used in magnetic storage devices

The continuous stiffness measurement (CSM) technique was used to study the contact stiffness, elastic modulus, and hardness of uniform materials, laye red materials, a magnetic rigid disk, and various metal-particle (MP) magne tic tapes. An analytical methodology for studying layered materials by usin g the CSM technique was developed. The creep behavior of the MP tapes was m easured in terms of indentation displacement, mean stress, and contact stif fness. Nanoscratch and wear experiments were conducted on the MP tapes by u sing a nanoindenter with a nanoscratch attachment and a ball-on-flat tribom eter, respectively. For the MP tapes studied in this paper, a good correlat ion between mechanical properties and scratch and wear damage was found. Th e tapes with higher mechanical properties have less scratch and wear damage . The underlayer plays an important role in determining the tribological pe rformance of magnetic tapes. Finally, the relationship between tape structu res and mechanical and tribological properties is discussed.