Abstract
The work presented in this paper was motivated by the experimental observation of de-bonding phenomena between head gimbal assembly (HGA) and suspension for a commercial 3.5-in. enterprise HDD under non-operational 250 G shock test, which leads to revisit design of HGA/suspension with objective placed on withstanding shocks between the head slider and the suspension. In this study experimental observation and numerical finite element studies were conducted to understand such effect on the mechanical failure of HGA when it is subjected to nonoperational shock in parked position on ramp. It was observed that by changing flexure angle in HGA, shock stress can be reduced. FEA simulation results have been presented to verify the findings. © Springer-Verlag 2012.