Experiment Investigation and Optimization for Slider Bonding Process to Enhance the Shear Strength of Epoxy Adhesive Joint

The shear strength of adhesive bonding between the slider and suspension greatly affects the quality of the hard disk drive. Therefore, this paper intends to determine the optimal slider bonding parameters which can maximize the shear strength of the adhesive joint. The response surface methodology (RSM) and optimization are employed to investigate the effects of five process parameters to the shear strength of the adhesive joint. Next, the central composite design which is a RSM is conducted. The analysis of variance is used to identify the significant terms of the quadratic regression model. Then, the optimization approach is utilized to determine the optimal process parameters with the mean shear strength of 257.62 gf. The confirmation experiment to validate the quadratic model reveals that the prediction error is only 1.6% which is acceptable. Next, the regression model is also used to define the optimal process conditions under the capacity constraint. In this case, the regression model can provide the accurate prediction of the shear strength with 1.14% error. In conclusion, the RSM and optimization approach can effectively yield the optimal process parameters that can enhance the shear strength of the adhesive joint to achieve the appropriate quality level.