Accelerated Friction and Wear Studies of Various Particulate and Thin-Film Magnetic Tapes Against Tape Path Materials in Pure Sliding and Rotary/Sliding Modes

Abstract

The friction and wear characteristics of various magnetic tapes mated with various tape path materials were studied in accelerated tests conducted on a reciprocating friction test apparatus. The tests were run in pure sliding and rotary/sliding modes to simulate the operations in linear and rotary head drives, respectively. Both particulate (Co-γFe2O3, CrO2 MP and barium ferrite) and Co-Ni ME tapes were selected. Selected tape path materials were acetal plastic, aluminum, 303 stainless steel, and Mn-Zn ferrite. The tapes run in pure sliding tended to exhibit less damage than those run in rotary I sliding mode. Mating materials run in rotary/sliding mode tended to exhibit less damage than those run in pure sliding. Friction and wear characteristics seemed to improve as the hardness of the mating materials increased and as the roughness of both the tape and mating material decreased. Failure mechanisms of particulate and ME tapes were found to be different. In the case of ME tapes, primarily deposits of top...