Numerical simulation of slider temperature rise caused by read/write current

Abstract

The Joule heat caused by read/write operation leads to nanodeformation of slider body and variation of head-disk spacing. In this work, the heat transferring between slider and disk surfaces is numerically simulated based on an unstructured adaptive triangular mesh method and the Voronoi polygons control volume method. Results suggest that the heat transferring between slider and disk surfaces plays a very important role in determining the final temperature value and distribution over slider’s air-bearing surface (ABS). Furthermore, the writing operation, due to its high writing current, is of significant thermal effects to both writing head and MR sensor. The temperature distribution over the air bearing surface is asymmetrical and depends on the air bearing pressure and heat flux distribution. Also, higher slider flying speed increases the heat transferring between slider and disk surface. Furthermore, it is noticed that the heat conduction dominates the heat transferring between slider and disk surfaces. Good agreements are obtained between the present calculation and the reported experimental results.