Abstract:With the rapid development of magnetic storage media in home and industry, it’s very urgent to investigate the tribological behavior of recording media and improve their tribological properties. In the late 1980’s, the invention of the friction force microscope makes it feasible to evaluate the surface morphology and microtribological properties at nano scale. The surface morphology, surface adhesion and microtribological behavior of magnetic audio tapes were investigated by a new developed atomic force/friction force microscope (AFM/FFM). The results show that the surface roughness and grain size of three kinds of audio tapes made in China are almost equal to those of abroad tapes. The friction force at a given load and friction coefficient of Sonytape are larger than those ofNaturetapes. There is a good correspondence between the friction force image and the slope of surface topography. The friction force increases with the load, the slope of surface topography and the surface adhesion.

Key words: audio tapes　surface morphology　microtribological behavior　AFM/FFM