BUCKLING AND VIBRATION OF STEPPED, SYMMETRIC CROSS-PLY LAMINATED RECTANGULAR PLATES

This paper presents the exact buckling loads and vibration frequencies of multi-stepped symmetric cross-ply laminated rectangular plates having two opposite edges simply supported while the other two edges may have any combination of free, simply supported, and clamped conditions. An analytical method that uses the Lévy solution method and the domain decomposition technique is proposed to determine the buckling loads and natural frequencies of stepped laminated plates. Buckling and vibration solutions are obtained for symmetric cross-ply laminated rectangular plates having two-, three- and four-step thickness variations.

Effect of Lubricant on Flyability and Read-Write Performance in the Ultra-Low Flying Regime

The effect of lubricant on flyability and read-write performance in ultra-low flying regime has been studied over the disks with lubricant on one half of disk surface thicker than the other half. The dynamics of a slider was monitored using Acoustic Emission (AE) and Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV). An instability characteristic of a slider flying over the thick lubricant region has been observed and this instability intensifies as flying height decreases and the step thickness increases. After the slider flies over the disks, it has been found that lubricant re-distribution occurs as lubricant is “carried” by the flying slider from the thick lubricant region and deposited onto the thin lubricant region. Possible mechanisms were discussed to explain the observations. Finally, recording tests were performed and the magnetic spacing loss due to the lubricant steps was estimated.