The Effect of Vapor Phase Chemicals on Head/Disk Interface Tribology

Abstract

Outgassing from disk drive materials can adversely affect head/disk tribological performance. The reliability risk of out-gassed contamination continues to rise as storage capacity demands force reductions in head flying heights and disk surface roughness. A tribochemical test method was previously described and applied to study the effects of outgassing from pressure sensitive adhesives on tribological performance. The authors have used this technique to evaluate the effects of pure chemicals on stiction, fly stiction, durability, and head smearing for five chemicals that are commonly used in the formulation of adhesives and other drive materials. Acrylic acid vapors caused significant increases in stiction, fly stiction and head smearing. Benzothiazole affected stiction rise and fly stiction but did not affect head smearing while tributylamine vapors affected fly stiction and head smearing. Acetic acid and diethylhexylphthalate did not significantly affect head/disk interface performance. No obvious relationship was found between chemical reactivity or physical properties of the outgassed chemicals and the observed tribochemical activity.

Presented as a Society of Tribologlsts and Lubrication Engineers paper at the ASME/STLE Tribology Conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 26–28, 1998

KEY WORDS:

• Magnetic Data Storage Systems Tribology

Notes

Presented as a Society of Tribologlsts and Lubrication Engineers paper at the ASME/STLE Tribology Conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 26–28, 1998