Experimental Investigation of Ultrasonic and Megasonic Frequency on Cleaning of Various Disk Drive Components

This study investigates the effect of frequency on cleaning of various Hard Disk Drive (HDD) components. The disk drive components used for this study was aluminum metal spacer, e-coated disk separator and plastic separator. The frequency used for this study was 58/132 kHz, 132 kHz, 360 kHz, 470 kHz and 1 MHz. In this study multiple extraction method was used to find the cleanability and erodability of the parts and liquid particle counter was used to measure the particle concentration in the extracted solution. The result indicates that dual frequency i.e 58/132 kHz is more suitable for cleaning of aluminum metal spacer and e-coated disk separator, 360 kHz and 470 kHz is more suitable for cleaning of plastic disk separator. The result shows that 360 kHz is the supreme frequency for final rinsing. 360 kHz frequency also found to be a better washing and rinsing frequency for various HDD components. Cleaning the parts with multiple frequencies gives higher cleanabilit