Address: | School of Engineering & Applied Science, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET |
Country: | UK |
Website: |
Organisation type: | Academic |
Storage activities: | research in the tribology of magnetic recording tape and hard disk drives, as well as in near field optical recording |
Profile: | The Surface Science Group’s current research programme, which is supported by both national and international grants, is predominantly focused on projects concerned with the electronic properties of surfaces and interfaces. SEM, AFM, MFM, optical microscopy, optical spectroscopy, plasma cells and mass/energy, Langmuir and optical plasma diagnostic probes are available within the group. The Group can offer contributions in the tribology of magnetic recording tape & hard disk drives as well as in near field optical recording. As the leading group in Europe in this subject area and probably the only one in the world that makes so much use of modern surface analytical techniques in the investigations, Aston’s proposed contribution is to gain a fundamental understanding of the tribology of magnetic recording heads (in hard drives and tape) developed by other partners, to relate this to ultimate signal performance and, through this understanding, to be able to specify the material and mechanical parameters necessary to produce minimum wear, pole tip recession and transfer film formation – and thus to maximise signal and minimise errors over the lifetime of the head. The use of new materials and techniques, very small component dimensions and high speeds will mean that a whole new range of tribological problems will need to be addressed. The work will also have implications for other nano-tribological applications. The same methodology can be applied to any recording system in which contact or intermittent contact occurs between the medium and the read/write sensors, such as near field optical recording. |
Email: | (Head of Department) |
Tel: | +44 121 359 3611 x5255 |
Fax: | +44 121 359 0156 |