Abstract
Touch-down of a pico-type magnetic recording slider on discrete track recording media is investigated by adjusting the rotational speed of the disk. Wear of the nano-sized tracks was observed as a result of frictional contact between head and disk, and wear particles originating from damaged discrete tracks were observed to collect in the grooves. Nanoindentation and nanoscratch experiments were used to investigate the mechanical strength and wear resistance of the nano-sized discrete tracks. For the case of narrow land width or large groove depth, discrete tracks show weak mechanical strength and wear resistance. In particular, discrete tracks show very weak wear resistance to lateral force.
