Tribological Performance and Transfer Behavior of Lubricating Oils at Head-Disk Interface under Volatile Organic Contamination

Tribological performance of head-disk interface (HDI) under volatile organic contamination was investigated using a contact start/stop (CSS) tester. Slider and disk surfaces were analyzed using Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS) after CSS tests. The CSS test results indicated that the friction forces were high and unstable under contamination. Transfer of lubricating oil onto the slider surface was detected after the CSS tests. The transfer amount of lubricating oil was revealed to be dependent on the chemical structure of the terminal group in the lubricating oil. Piperonyl (–CH2−phe=(O)2=CH2) terminated AM3001 lubricating oil was lost more easily than two hydroxyl (–OH) terminated Tetraol lubricating oil, probably because of the weak attractive force of the piperonyl groups with carbon overcoat. TOF-SIMS chemical images indicated that the transferring behavior of the lubricating oil onto the slider surface during CSS tests was dependent on the chemical structure of volatile organic contaminants. The lubricating oil became built up on the slider surface when the dioctyl sebacate (DOS) pollutant used. In contrast, the lubricating oil distribution on the slider surface was uniform under a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) vapor. The different transfer behavior of lubricating oil onto the slider surface may be resulted from the changeable surface properties of slider and disk because of the coexistence with gaseous contaminants.