A Study Of Head Wear And Head Contamination In Consumer VCR's

~~~ ~ Head wear and head contamination of video heads is investigated in order to improve the reliability of the headtape interface. The location of deposits and the shape of the wear scar are studied, and the wear rate and contact pressure along the head surfiice are determined using the so called "micro-indentation technique". I. Introduction Video cassette recorders based on magnetic recording technology have become very common throughout the industrial world. Recent efforts have been directed toward improving the reliability of VCR's. These efforts have shown that the reliability of VCR's is closely related to head wear and contamination. Although the importance of head wear and head clogging is well known[',21, few experimental studies have addressed the relationship between head wear and head contamination. In this paper we have investigated the location of deposits on the head surface and the development of the wear scar. We have used the "micro indentation technique" in conjunction with Atomic Force Microscopy to determine the wear rate and contact pressure over the head as a function of position and time.