In our previous report on the study of the microcracks of the thin-film head alumina it was shown that the thermal expansion of the head wires reduces the crack resistance of the magnetic head alumina and therefore increases the possibility of the head damage in the low flying height magnetic disk drives. The fatigue surface crack of the head alumina initiated at the flaw or at the chipping site is growing toward the head pole tips and propagate either through the head gap or under the leading pole [1]. In this paper we discuss the effects of the crack on the read-write performance of the magnetic head; corrosion effects which are associated with the alumina cracks; the ways of reducing the stress induced by the thermal expansion of the head materials at the areas which interact with the rotating disk surface most frequently (front edges of the alumina).
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