Laminate Supplier Recognizes HTI for Shipping One Billion TSAs

It happened without fanfare. No bells went off. No lights started flashing. No confetti was thrown. One day last February, the one billionth TSA was simply packaged and shipped off to the customer like all the rest.

While we might have missed this milestone, our TSA laminate supplier, Polyimide Laminate Systems (PLS) didn’t. They recently presented HTI with a crystal award recognizing the achievement of shipping one billion TSAs. As Materials Director Dwight Bordson explained, “The award was about much more than shipping one billion TSAs. It recognizes an important partnership with a supplier that enabled HTI to successfully bring a new-generation product to the market.”

PLS has been the sole supplier of laminate to HTI since the first TSA prototypes were shipped in 1995. The laminate, which consists of a layer of stainless steel, polyimide, and copper, was a critical raw material needed to develop and bring TSA to the market. In fact, PLS, which is a joint venture between Rogers Corporation and Mitsui Chemicals, was established for the sole purpose of supplying laminate to HTI.

From the Space Shuttle to TSA

While this laminate is now an integral part of the TSA flexure, its roots are in something very different than disk drives. The polyimide in the TSA laminate was originally developed to adhere thermal insulating tiles to the space shuttle. Rogers Corporation worked with NASA to develop a polyimide resin that could withstand the extreme temperature changes that occurred during the shuttle’s launch and re-entry.

NASA eventually used a different approach for adhering the tiles to the shuttle, but Rogers retained the rights to the polyimide technology. Rogers then began working with Mitsui Chemicals of Japan to develop versions of the polyimide for use in specialized laminates for the electronics industry. In 1992, these laminates caught the eye of an engineer at IBM who was developing a new type of suspension assembly called an integrated lead suspension. The polyimide developed for the space shuttle was also well-suited for the conditions inside of the disk drive. This laminate was designed into the early IBM suspensions.

Through a technology sharing agreement with IBM in 1995, HTI brought the integrated lead technology to the market as a trace suspension assembly. The laminate developed by Rogers and Mitsui Chemical was used in HTI’s TSA suspensions as well.

Meeting HTI’s TSA Ramp

When TSA production shifted into high gear in 1998, ensuring an adequate laminate supply was a key priority. Shipments of TSA grew from 567,000 suspensions per week to over 3 million by the end of 1998. To meet HTI’s ramp, Rogers and Mitsui Chemicals agreed to devote 100 percent of their manufacturing capacity to the production of the laminate and expanded their manufacturing facilities in Nagoya and Atsugi, Japan. Later, the two companies formed a joint venture, PLS, to better meet HTI’s needs for technical and support activities.