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Overcoats are predominantly employed to tackle tribological challenges in numerous moving mechanical systems. However, when overcoats are thinned down to sub-10 nm levels, their performance gets significantly compromised because of the dominance of surface and interface effects. Here, we discovered the efficacy of the chemistry of sub-10 nm thick carbon-based overcoats in regulating the friction and wear of rough ceramic surfaces, particularly those of Al2O3+TiC (AlTiC). Carbon overcoats up to 4 nm in thickness grown with low-energy (~4–5 eV) atoms/ions caused no significant changes in the tribological performance of AlTiC. However, carbon overcoats grown at a moderate energy of 90 eV experienced an exceptional reduction in friction and wear of AlTiC at similar thickness levels up to 4 nm. The addition of a 6 nm thick RF-sputtered carbon layer on top of these carbon overcoats caused no significant improvement in the tribological performance. However, the addition of a multilayer graphene overlayer was found to slightly reduce the friction further for the thicker carbon overcoats grown at 90 eV. Chemical bonding and carbon microstructural analyses, along with ion interaction simulations, were performed to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms behind the observed friction and wear performances. We discovered that the atomic mixing and high sp3 bonding caused by the 90 eV growth process primarily dictated the friction and wear control at ≤ 10 nm overcoat thicknesses. Thus, by adopting suitable carbon overcoat technology, excellent tribological properties can be attained even at sub-5 nm overcoat thickness levels, which is critical for numerous applications.

Remake as a Form of the Dialogue with the Classics (Nikolai Gogol’s ‘The Overcoat' as an Inspiration in Russian Literature in the End of the 20th Century and the Beginning of the 21st Century) The article is devoted to the very recent phenomenon in contemporary Russian literature – to a remake. The subject of this research is the literary ‘dialogue’ between classical short story (The Overcoat by Nikolay Gogol) and Russian literary works in the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. In scope, there is a micro-novel of Vladimir Voinovich The Fur Hat, then Dmitry Gorchev’s novel The Phone and Vladimir Shinkariev’s work The Flat, as well as Bashmachkin – a drama written by Oleg Bogaev. The interest that contemporary authors demonstrate in Gogol’s work is a result of the problems described which still appear to be current. This is also an attempt to make Russian classics contemporary and reinterpret the 20th century novel simultaneously. The methods of bringing ‘Gogol’s text’ up to date in the above-mentioned works present the wide range of possibilities that remake gives. Voinovich put social and political principles of Soviet state in the first place. The Table of Ranks together with its submission of an individual towards the state has been deeply analyzed. In Gorchev’s and Shinkariev’s stories contemporary Bashmachkins – ‘little men’, eager to fulfill their dreams about better life – are presented. What is more, those texts show a very interesting picture of Russian reality in the beginning of 21st century ruled by lawlessness, corruption and money. The most original approach to Gogol’s work was presented by Bogaev in Bashmachkin’s story continuation. However, the main character is the overcoat who is administering justice on behalf of a dying hero. The remake-sequel is not only a modernized version of Gogol’s plot but also a new text growing up from a postmodern game. A proposed analysis of the above-mentioned Russian remakes presents many different ways a classic literature text can be modernized thanks to this kind of adaptation. However, on the ground of Russian literature, a remake is above all a pursuit of a dialogue with the classics, an attempt to modernize the problematic aspects and emphasize timeless contents.

Far-field Raman spectroscopy and tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy were used to investigate 20-nm-thick amorphous carbon films and 3-nm-thick carbon overcoats of commercial hard disk drives. Enhancement of the Raman signal on both samples was observed indicating the activation of surface plasmons. The largest enhancement was found for the 3-nm-thick carbon overcoat of a commercial hard disk suggesting that the chemistry of nanometer-thick carbon films can be studied using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy with high sensitivity and resolution.

We utilize thermal fly-height control (TFC) technology to perform in situ measurements of carbon overcoat wear at the angstrom level at the read–write area of magnetic recording heads. We also study the durability of the molecularly thin lubricated disk surface. Experimental findings reveal a linear relationship between the quantified carbon wear depth on the flying head versus the head–disk contact level produced by the TFC power. It is demonstrated that this method can serve as a measurement and probing technique of wear resistance for different types of lubricants. Lubricants possessing more polar hydroxyl end-groups and less mobility tend to show a superior surface stability under head–disk contacts, but raise concerns on head carbon overcoat wear.

Inside and outside of psychoanalysis, laughter has often been thought of as relating to anxiety, with the usual line being that laughter can be a response to anxiety or a way of dealing with it. This article argues that laughter cannot be said to eradicate or ‘deal with' anxiety and that laughter is always unsettling precisely because it contains anxiety and indicates its continuing threat. The article discusses Freud and Lacan on anxiety, as well as Charles Mauron, an understudied writer whose Psychocritique du Genre Comique was the only sustained study of psychoanalysis and comedy until very recently. I argue here that Mauron's idea of renversement holds a key to understanding the relationship between laughter and anxiety. Rather than using a collection of isolated examples to illustrate individual points, in the second half of the article I provide a more sustained discussion of these ideas in relation to Nicolai Gogol's short story “The Overcoat.”

Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) is a technique for overcoming the superparamagnetic limit and enabling large increases in the storage density of hard disk drives. The performance of the disk carbon overcoat under the high temperature in the heating-assisted writing process is a concern. Laser heating in HAMR is quite different from conventional slow heating. Laser heating temperature and total laser heating duration over the lifetime of the drive are two dominant factors in the experimental study of laser-heating-induced damage to the carbon overcoat, which must be carefully controlled. In this study, a rough estimation of the total laser heating time for a given point on the media over the 5-year lifetime of the drive is given. It is expected to be only 0.1 ms. The methods of controlling laser heating temperature and total laser heating time in experimental studies are explained in detail. Laser-heating-induced damage to the a-C:Nx and a-C:Hx overcoats on HAMR media are studied. Surface topographical changes caused by the laser heating are evaluated with atomic force microscopy and structure changes by visible Raman spectroscopy. It is found that laser heating induces surface topographical and structure changes, especially for the a-C:Nx overcoat.

Typical lubricants for magnetic hard disks comprise the central perfluoropolyether section and the short hydrocarbon end groups bearing hydroxyl unit(s). It had been shown earlier that chemical bonding of these lubricants to the carbon overcoat of disks involves (1) dangling bonds shielded inside the carbon, (2) transfer of the hydrogen atom of the hydroxyl unit to a dangling bond site, and (3) attachment of the remaining alkoxy system, R–CF 2 –CH 2 –O · , to the carbon surface as a pendant ether unit. Dangling bonds at or near the surface react immediately with H 2 O or O 2 in the atmosphere. It follows that, in order to bond, the hydrocarbon end group must move into crevices of the carbon film. It was postulated that the bonding rate would depend on the length of the hydrocarbon end-group, –(CH 2 ) n –OH. The longer the hydrocarbon sector is, the faster and the more extensively the bonding would proceed. Bonding rates were examined for a set of samples differing only in the dimension of the hydrocarbon end-group. Results clearly in accordance with the postulate were obtained. The sample set included two novel lubricants, D-2TX2 and D-2TX4, with the following end-groups, –O–CF 2 –CH 2 –O–(CH 2 ) n =2,4 –OH. Excellent bonding rate, coverage, and potential anticorrosion property were revealed for these lubricants.

The relationship between the adhesion of surfaces separated by a molecularly thin liquid film and the surface energy of the film was investigated. AFM-based force–distance curves were measured on a series of carbon surfaces coated with hydroxyl-terminated perfluoropolyether (PFPE) films. The surface energy of the PFPE films was varied by altering either the total film thickness or the bonding ratio of the film by changing the concentration of the PFPE film in the solution and/or the pull-rate during dip-coating. A linear relationship between adhesion force and surface energy was observed. Adhesion was found to vanish at non-zero values of surface energy. The experimental results indicate that the adhesive force between macroscopic bodies separated by molecularly thin liquid films is linearly proportional to the excess surface energy of the film.

Disk lubricant additives A20H and C2 are Fomblin Z type perfluoropolyether with the hydroxyl end-group, –O–CF 2 –CH 2 –OH, at one end, and the cyclo-triphosphazene end-group, R 5 (PN) 3 –O–, at the other end. Here, R is an m -trifluoromethyl-phenoxy group for A20H and a trifluoroethoxy group for C2. These additives were examined for miscibility with benzene, spin-off rate, water contact angle, and the diffusion rate over the carbon overcoat. It is revealed that A20H adheres to the carbon overcoat spontaneously. The attractive interaction arises from the charge–transfer type interaction between the aromatic rings of the phosphazene end and the graphitic regime of the carbon overcoat. No spontaneous adherence occurs between the lubricant C2 and the carbon overcoat. A TOF-SIMS study of disks coated with A20H and C2, respectively, with and without subsequent curing by short-UV (185 nm) was performed. It is revealed: (1) if presented with a low energy electron, the phenoxy groups of A20H readily undergo the dissociative electron capture, while the trifluoroethoxy group does not, and (2) photoelectrons generated by short-UV have little kinetic energy and the electron capture occurs only if an electrophilic molecular sector is in intimate contact with the carbon. Thus, in the case of disks coated with A20H, UV-curing results in detachment of a phenoxy group in contact with the carbon, generation of a radical center at the phosphorus atom and subsequent formation of a bona fide chemical bond between the phosphor and the carbon overcoat. No reaction of consequence occurs when disks coated with C2 are irradiated with short-UV.