National University of Singapore

Sujeet Kumar Sinha

Charanjit Singh Bhatia

Prabakaran Saravanan

Ehsan Rismani-Yazdi

Satyanarayana Nalam

Substantially homogenous compositions in accordance with the present disclosure can exist in various forms, such as bulk materials, coatings, films, laminates, inserts, or overlays, and include at least one polymer such as SU-8, at least one liquid lubricant, and optionally at least one nanomaterial that serves as an inorganic filler material. Such compositions exhibit enhanced tribological and mechanical properties compared to the at least one polymer in isolation, for instance, a 50% or greater coefficient of friction reduction, a 100% or greater wear life increase, a 10% or greater elastic modulus increase, and/or a 10% or greater hardness increase. The at least one nanomaterial can include a first nanomaterial providing increased hardness, and a second nanomaterial providing increased elastic modulus. Compositions in accordance with the present disclosure are suitable for biological and non-biological applications.

SU-8 nano-composites with improved tribological and mechanical properties

A durable wear-resistant coating consists of an atomically mixed layer on the surface of the head or media which is developed by bombardment of the surface with energetic C ions with optimized parameters. This mixed layer is covered with a hard DLC overcoat. This mixed interlayer is able to strongly bond the overcoat to the head or media substrate and improve the tribological properties of the overcoat. In this method a very thin layer of a carbide former material can be used as an interlayer before bombarding the surface with C ions which provides a composite interlayer containing C and species from interlayer and substrate. This composite interlayer bonds the DLC overact to the ceramic substrate of the head or the metallic substrate of the media. This interlayer by itself is protective enough to protect the head media of the hard drives against wear and corrosion.

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Singapore, Singapore

Sujeet Kumar Sinha