Analysis of bouncing vibrations of a 2-DOF model of tripad near-contact slider over a random way disk surface

We numerically investigated the tracking ability and the dynamic friction force of a 2-DOF model of a tripad slider over a random wavy disk surface in the near-contact regime. The nominal flying height was changed from a negative value (contact regime) to 3 nm (3 /spl sigma/ of micro-waviness of the disk surface). We clarified tile effects of the front and rear air bearing stiffnesses, the nominal flying height, the coefficient of friction and the roll-off characteristics of the disk surface waviness on the tracking ability and wear durability. As a result, we found that the spacing variation is caused by not only the slider dynamics but also the micro-waviness of the disk surface between the contact pad position and the rear air hearing center. The effect of the coefficient of friction on the tracking ability can be neglected when the flying height is more than 1 nm. However, the rms value of the friction force still remains to be 0.25 mN.