Finite element analysis simulations of thermomechanical head-disk interface contact in thermal flying-height control slider design

In order to achieve higher recording density in hard disk drive (HDD), thermal flying-height control (TFC) slider design has been used to reduce the physical spacing between the read/write elements in the slider and the rotating disk surface. During the read/write operation in hard disk drives, the intermittent contact at the head-disk interface (HDI) directly affects its performance and reliability. In this study, the thermomechanical micro-contact between a TFC slider and a disk defect was systematically investigated through finite element analysis (FEA) modeling and simulations. The thermal actuation technology in a TFC slider was incorporated into the FEA model to enable the thermal protrusion of read/write sensors outward the air bearing surface (ABS). In order to obtain the scientific relationship between the thermal protrusion and the resulting HDI contact behavior, parametric FEA simulations were carried out based on the 23-factorial design of experiment (DOE), where the surface temperature rise and the residual deformation on the TFC slider surface were used as the output parameters. From the statistical data analysis, it could be found that the larger thermal protrusion resulted in higher temperature rise and more residual deformation.