Head crash process of magnetic coated disk during contact start/stop operations

To increase the recording density of rigid magnetic disk files, it is important to understand and prevent the Head Crash problem. In Winchester type head-disk interfaces, Head Crash is most liable to occur during Contact Start / Stop (CS/S) o-erations. Head wear or disk wear after Head Crash were reported by past researchers. But the Head Crash process itself has not been made clear. In this study, friction force and acoustic emission(AE) signal during CS/S operations are measured until Head Crash. The results show that the piling up of disk binder on a head surfase is the main reason of Head Crash. It is triggered by the intrusion of wear particle into the head-disk interface. From these results, more durable magnetic coated disks will be developed in the future.