HEAD-DISK INTERACTION OF PROXIMITY SLIDERS STUDIED BY THE ACOUSTIC-EMISSION PROBE, THE DYNAMIC FLYING HEIGHT TESTER, AND THE LASER-DOPPLER VIBROMETER

The dynamic behavior of the head-disk interaction of two types of prox imity recording sliders, a catamaran tripad and a negative pressure sh aped-rail (NPS) tripad, were investigated using a combination of frict ion and acoustic emission (AE) measurement on a contact start/stop (CS S) tester, dynamic flying height measurement, and laser Doppler vibrom etry (LDV). Interesting differences and sensitivity in the head-disk c ontact behavior of these two types of proximity sliders were observed for different (a) rotational speeds of the disk and radial positions o f the heads on the disk, and (b) z-heights. FFT analysis applied to th e unfiltered AE signal, dynamic flying height data and LDV displacemen t signal revealed vibration resonances of the slider body, the suspens ion, the air-bearing, and the disk.