International Business Machines Corporation

Bruce E Kennedy

Christopher Guild Keller

Thomas A Gregory

John C Shen

Wayne J Rothschild

James J Mayerle

Ajay Johary

Bruce A Murray

A lubricant film for a thin-film disk is disclosed. The lubricant film comprises a monolayer of fixed lubricant bonded to the surface of the thin-film disk and a mobile lubricant in contact with the layer of fixed lubricant. The monolayer of lubricant film is applied to the thin-film in a method comprising applying a lubricant composition to the surface of a thin-film disk, then heating the thin-film disk at a sufficient temperature for a sufficient time to bond or fix a portion of the lubricant composition to the disk; to evaporate a portion of the lubricant composition from the surface of the disk; and to dispose a portion of the lubricant composition as a mobile lubricant in contact with the fixed lubricant.

Lubricant film for a thin-film disk

In a magnetic disk file having a plurality of disks and a source of organic lubricant mounted within a housing, an air flow stream recirculates within the housing. The vapor pressure of the lubricant source is controlled to provide vapor phase transport of lubricant molecules between the source and the disks' recording surfaces. The lubricant molecules bidirectionally transfer between the air stream and the source, and between the air stream and the surface of the disks, as is needed to maintain a mono-molecular lubricant film, in the range of about 3 to 15 angstroms, on the disks in accordance with the principle of Langmuir kinetics. The disks are rigid disks and their recording surface includes a carbon overcoat. This overcoat has an affinity for the airborne organic lubricant molecules. In a first embodiment, the vapor pressure of the lubricant is controlled by mounting the material at the coolest location within the housing. In a second embodiment, the lubricant is carried as a mono-molecular layer of lubricant on granular carbon particles which have a surface area that is many times greater than the surface area of the disks. In a third embodiment, the vapor pressure is controlled by combining the lubricant with a vapor pressure diluent.

Method and apparatus for lubricating a magnetic disk continuously in a

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Rochester, MN, United States of America

Bruce E Kennedy