Micro/nano-scale differential wear of multiphase materials: pole tip recession in magnetic-tape heads

Abstract

Wear of multiphase materials at the micro/nano-scale is important in devices such as magnetic tape and disk drives, where the read-write heads are multiphase. Differential wear, which is caused by differences in wear resistance among the heads’ phases, causes the thin-film poles to recede from the bearing surface; this is called pole tip recession (PTR). It is a problem because it increases spacing between the poles and medium, resulting in lower readback amplitude. Here, PTR in tape heads is studied to understand micro/nano-scale differential wear. Test results suggest that three-body abrasion, which leads to primarily plastic wear, is the operative wear mode. Most of the three-body abrasive particles originate from the tape surface; the alumina head-cleaning agents (HCAs) in the tape, which function as load bearing particles at the interface, are believed to be the primary abrasives. Some of the particles originate from the head. These are important if the substrate material is relatively soft. Differential wear can be reduced by choosing a substrate that is harder than the tape’s HCAs, choosing a pole material that is as close as possible to the hardness of the substrate, and lowering the thickness of the head’s thin-film region. Material hardness matching will not reduce differential wear if a substrate is chosen that is less hard than the HCAs. An analytical model that accounts for the observed wear is presented. The model shows that each of the following leads to higher differential wear: increasing the thickness of three-body particles, increasing tension, decreasing thin-film hardness, and increasing the thin-film wear coefficient. An increase in thin-film wear coefficient can be caused by an increase in thin-film thickness or an increase in the number of particles at the interface.