Analysis of surface textured air bearing sliders with rarefaction effects

A numerical model is developed to study the effect of texture on air bearing sliders for large Knudsen numbers. The effect of texture location, texture size, and density on the pressure generation is studied. First, a textured plane slider parallel to the disk surface is investigated, and the texture parameters are determined that result in optimum pressure generation. Then, a plane inclined slider is studied using optimum texture parameters found in the parallel slider case. Thereafter, the effect of texture on the steady state flying characteristics of an actual magnetic recording slider is investigated. Finally, the flying height modulation, pitch, and roll motion of a textured slider (pico and femto form factors) are determined numerically by exciting the slider using a step on the disk. Comparison of the results for textured and untextured sliders is made. It is found that textured sliders show better dynamic performance compared to the untextured sliders in terms of stiffness and damping.