Degradation testing and lifetime predictions for GMR heads under mechanically and thermally accelerated conditions

Testing degradation and predicting the lifetimes of giant magneto-resistive (GMR) heads under mechanically and thermally accelerated conditions are discussed. Our experiments revealed that accumulated mechanical acceleration can cause gradual and continuous head degradation. The amplitude loss was proportional to the integrated acoustic emission (AE) signal, and the amplitude loss rate to the integrated AE was a function of GMR temperature. Lifetime predictions with these parameters are presented.