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Posted on 09/10/2004 1:06:54 PM PDT by Loyalist
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A newly developed lubricant could improve the performance, capacity and longevity of hard drives used widely in computers, music players, video recorders and other devices, researchers say.
Lubricant coats and protects the polished disc surface that spins thousands of times per minute as data are magnetically recorded, retrieved and erased on the drive by a head that flies back and forth dozens of times per second.
But today's standard lubricant, called perfluoropolyethers, is reaching its limits as disc drives spin faster and hold more data. In some cases, centrifugal forces are causing the lubricant to ripple. In others, the material flies off the spinning disk.
The new lubricant, called sterically hindered polyester, is based on inexpensive and abundant materials. It acts like a solid material when it's cast in very thin films and has very good adhesive properties, said its creator, Wei Xiao, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois.
"Solving the problem forced us to make a completely new kind of polyester," said James Economy, a University of Illinois professor of material science and engineering.
Besides hard drives, the polyester also could find use in other applications, such as mining and even automobile engines.
Samples of the new material have been sent to the industry-sponsored Center for Magnetic Recording Research for real-world testing. Ms. Xiao reported her findings last month an American Chemical Society meeting.
And how long before this thread gets banished to the Smokey Backroom?
Its a cost issue. Solid state is still too expensive.
Sort of plugged into a console, like "Brave New World".
Or maybe Castro Street kinky Ping
So9
Perhaps, but will be be as cheap as 10,000 GB hard drives then? I want to store all the information in the universe on my home computer.
BTTT
LOL, That's ok. We can find it.
?
Call Jimmy Carter. He'll be able to do more than lust in his mind.
The amount of precision required is akin to flying an F15 figher jet across the country, one foot off the ground, without crashing.
Slide it to the top.
Bumping is so passe
Try the MEGAN Mind Meld.....It's Cheaper!......
I can finally get rid of my leisure suit.
I knew I didn't need to read the story. Went straight to the posts...
This lubricant will make it hard to drive ;-)
All the more amazing when you see how they test HDD for robustness. Imagine standing the thing on in edge & letting it fall flat while it was reading. When I used to buy them (5 or 6 years ago) this kind of 'drop testing' was the standard.
I'm sure the testing has only become more rigorous since.
Yeah, whatever you hafta tell yersef.
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