SBIR Phase II: Development of High Performance, Environmentally Benign Lapping Fluids for Hard Disk Drive Manufacturing Applications

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop novel, water soluble, environmentally benign, aspartate co-aspartamide copolymers for use as aluminum titanium carbide (AlTiC) Giant Magnetoresistive (GMR) Read Write Head lapping fluid additives. Efforts will be directed towards refining the composition of these copolymers such that they exhibit maximum adsorption & electrostatic charging effects upon AlTiC surfaces. This will enable rapid removal of AlTiC swarf formed during lapping producing GMR Heads of superior surface quality and uniformity compared to those manufactured currently. Furthermore, the adsorption properties of these copolymers upon AlTiC ceramic GMR Head surfaces as well as their metallic sensor layers will also be characterized in greater detail using Zeta Potential & Electrochemical Techniques. An optimized procedure for synthesizing these copolymers will be established enabling them to be economically produced in bulk quantities. Finally, the company will work closely with hard drive manufacturers and will integrate the aqueous lapping fluids formulated from these copolymers into its current GMR Head manufacturing operations. Commercially and from an industrial standpoint, lapping fluids formulated from these copolymers will enable the last vertically integrated domestic hard drive manufacturer to produce GMR Read Write Heads more economically & efficiently thereby enhancing the company's competitiveness within the marketplace. Future data storage technologies may also benefit from these fluids since they will in all likelihood still require high precision lapping or a related super finishing technique to polish their drive components.