Effects of seeking velocity on air bearing skew angle, air flow speed and flying performance of sliders with different ABS designs

The effects of seeking velocity on slider's flying performance can be described by the change of air flow speed and air-bearing skew angle. Obtained results indicate that the relative variation of air bearing skew angle, caused by seeking velocity, is significantly higher than that of the air flow speed. Sliders with higher sensitivity to skew angle (like TPC sliders) will correspond to a higher change in flying performance during track seeking. The flying height loss and the increase in rolling rate of TPC slider during the acceleration period of OD seeking increase the likelihood of head-disk impact. Similar, but reduced effects are observed on positive pressure tri-pad. TPC slider and positive pressure tri-pad slider showed contrasting results on the effects of z-height change. Reduction in z-height reduces the flying height of TPC slider but increases that of the positive pressure tri-pad slider. Negative pressure tri-pad is observed to be insensitive to both seeking and z-height change.