Tribological implications of solvents in dip-coating lubrication of thin film magnetic disks

Abstract

In this paper, we show that for ultra thin lubricant films (/spl sim/2 nm) the solvent used in dip-coating of thin film magnetic disks may have a significant effect on the tribological performance of the disk. Two solvents are used in this study. A large difference in CSS performance at 80% humidity is found between using the two solvents. The solvent effect (evaporation, diffusion and adsorption) is believed to determine how lubricant molecules are deposited onto disk surfaces causing different microstructure or conformation of deposited lubricant films during the coating process. This point is further supported by contact angle measurements which show significant different values of DI water on lubricated disk surfaces between using different solvents for the coating of the disks.