Sealed hard disk drive base insert

Abstract

A hard disk drive enclosure base includes a main base composed of a first material and having at least one bottom opening therethrough, a base insert composed of a second material having a higher Young's modulus than the first material and inserted into a corresponding opening of the main base, and a friction stir weld (FSW) coupling the base insert to the main base. The base may further include a thin film sealing material between a base insert flange and the main base, which is heated by way of the FSW process and further hermetically seals the interface between the base insert and the main base. Such a base insert may be used to support with additional stiffness the spindle motor assembly and/or the actuator assembly, and provides for increasing the number of disks while maintaining sufficient rigidity in a standard form factor drive while maintaining a hermetically-sealed enclosure.