Lubrication Transformation and Nanoscale Thin Film Lubrication

The transformation from elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) to thin film lubrication mainly depends on the lubricant film thickness. The authors observed that the lubricant film thickness gradually raises to a stable value after a continuous shearing process in thin film lubrication conditions. Experiments show that during operation the increase in thin film thickness slowly drops after the thickness rise to about 30 nm. This thickness stabilizes, and is related to the surface force range. This shows that the time effect is related to the action of surface energy in the friction interface. This chapter presents a discussion that focuses on the thin gas lubrication effect in a computer magnetic hard disk. Flows between the magnetic head and disk in a computer hard disk significantly show the rarefied gas effect. The chapter discusses the influence of rarefied gas effect on the gas flow.