Lubricant Performance in Magnetic Thin Film Disks With Carbon Overcoat—Part I: Dynamic and Static Friction

Static and dynamic friction coefficients are presented for an Al₂O₃·TiC slider in contact with 130 mm carbon-coated rigid thin film disks lubricated with several different perfluoropolyether lubricants. The lubricants tested include three nonpolar liquid lubricants and one polar liquid lubricant with dihydroxyl end groups. The effects of lubricant film thickness, disk surface topography, sliding speed and lubricant viscosity are investigated. In many cases, the interfaces exhibited a sharp increase in the dynamic and static friction coefficients after a certain film thickness was reached, due to strong adhesion in the interface. In most cases, the lubricant thickness for the onset of high friction forces was found to increase with increasing disk surface roughness, lubricant viscosity and sliding speed. Under certain conditions stick/slip of the slider occurred during which the static friction increased with time of contact. The various data suggest that the rate at which strong adhesion develops depends on the lubricant viscosity.