Change in Surface Tension and Pin Wear Characteristics of Thin-Film Disks by Heat Treatment and UV Irradiation

Abstract

The lubricant on thin-film disks is a key material for disk durability. Bonded lubricant layer remains on disk surfaces after solvent rinsing which removes mobile lubricant. To improve disk durability, lubricant treatments comprising heat treatment and UV irradiation, have been studied. Both of them increase bonded lubricant thickness but the bonded lubricant characteristics are not well understood.In this study, disks with only the bonded lubricant remaining after rinsing were prepared. Results of pin-on-disk wear tests and surface tension measurements on these disks showed that “bonded lubricant” could be moved by mechanical sliding and that the smaller the surface tension, the lower the pin wear.

Keywords

• thin-film disk
• hard disk drive
• lubricant
• ultraviolet irradiation
• heat treatment
• surface tension
• pin wear