Electrically suppressed hysteresis at nanoscale sliding interface

Contact adhesion hysteresis is widely observed between two quasi-static interfaces of micro-nano devices. Representatively, the hysteresis behavior has been found at the nanoscale sliding interface, which poses a significant obstacle to enhancing the tribological properties of the interfaces. In this paper, the hysteresis suppression mechanism by employing interfacial potential is investigated with a hard disk drive. Applying an external voltage to the head-disk interface results in the suppression of sliding contact hysteresis, which is also theoretically studied using a lumped parameter model. The motion state map indicates that inhibition of transformation from freedom flying state to bouncing state leads to the suppression of contact hysteresis. Subsequent wear experiments confirm that applying an external voltage is an effective method to enhance wear durability due to the reduction of hysteresis.