Carbon-Coated Sliders and Their Effect on Carbon Oxidation Wear

Alumina-titanium carbide composite sliders used in magnetic recording were coated with diamondlike carbon (DLC) to permit exploration of their effect on tribochemical wear. For comparison, testing was performed on both coated and uncoated sliders. Gases sampled directly from the sliding interface between a carbon-coated thin-film magnetic recording disk and the slider contained carbon dioxide in both dry nitrogen and dry oxygen environments. In the oxygen environment, uncoated sliders produce carbon dioxide at a rate 10 times greater than coated sliders. This suggests that catalysts in the slider composite material are necessary for carbon oxidation wear. Presented as a Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers paper at the STLE/ASME Tribology Conference in Kissimmee, Florida, October 8-11, 1995