Advanced metal particles technologies for magnetic tapes

Several characteristics of recently developed advanced metal particles are reported. The mean particle length was less than 0.1 mu m maintaining narrow size distribution. The key technologies to prepare advanced metal particles were decreasing pores, alloying cobalt, and using yttrium as a new anti-sintering agent. The electromagnetic performance of magnetic tapes is discussed in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and output. The SNR was improved as the particle size decreased; however, the measured SNR was a little smaller than theoretical value in the finer particle region. Combining advanced metal particles technologies with thin layer coating method, higher characteristics of both SNR and output than Hi-8 metal evaporated tape have been achieved.