A Study of Subambient Pressure Tri-Pad Sliders Using Acoustic Emission

Acoustic emission is used to study the contact behavior of subambient pressure tripad sliders during start/stop and constant speed operation. The contact force at the slider/disk interface is determined as a function of velocity and the dependence of contact force on flying height is investigated. The results indicate that contact forces for typical subambient pressure tri-pad sliders are on the order of a few mN.