Effect of surface topography of disk on lubricant distribution and lubricant transfer between disk and slider

Abstract

Lubricant transfer from the disk to the slider can affect the slider flying ability. Based on molecular dynamics simulation, we investigated the effects of the roughness of diamond like carbon (DLC) and disk surface protrusion on lubricant distribution on a disk surface and lubricant transfer between the disk and the slider using modified coarse-grained, bead-spring model. The simulation results showed that the effect of DLC roughness on the average lubricant thickness and on the disk surface roughness is small. However, the effect of disk surface protrusion on lubricant distribution on a disk surface is more significant. The roughness of DLC layer and disk surface protrusion result in an increase in the volume of lubricant transfer. Between these two, the effect of the disk surface protrusion is much more important than that of the DLC layer roughness.