Measurement of the Slider-Disk Contact during Load/Unload process with AE and Electrical Resistance

In this paper, the measured electrical resistance method is proposed to analyze the ramp-tab contact during the load/unload (L/UL) process. Since this method supplies the voltage change due to the resistance change, we can easily and conveniently identify the ramp-tab contact from the acoustic emission (AE) signal. At first, we carefully deposit the conductive material on the surface of the conventional ramp by sputtering method. The ratio frequency (RF) magnetron co-sputtering system is applied to accomplish the deposited double-layers on the ramp surface. One layer is the stainless steel for the conductive layer and the other is the titanium layer for the cohesive function between the ramp surface and the stainless steel layer. In order to guarantee the stiffness and damping properties of the original ramp, the deposited conductive layer is intended to have very thin thickness. After integration the proposed ramp device into the L/UL system and networking the electrical resistance circuit, the L/UL performance is experimentally evaluated by comparing the measured electrical resistance signal and AE signal.