Constructing a Molecular Dynamics Model for Lubricant Structure Design

Class of 2021 PhD Yiqi Chen started his internship experience in 2020 with Seagate Technology while working remotely.

Seagate Technology was founded in 1979 and specializes in mass data storage solutions. Notably, in 1980, Seagate Technologies developed the first 5.25-inch hard disk drive. Currently, Seagate produces electronic data storage products like solid-state drives and cloud-based storage.

Although Yiqi worked remotely during his internship at Seagate, he says he learned a lot during the internship. When asked about his responsibilities at Seagate, Yiqi says " I was tasked with optimizing lubricant film structures using molecular simulations. Although it was challenging, our team still managed to complete the project on time."

When asked to describe Yiqi's work, supervisor Dr. Qian Guo  said, "During his summer internship at Seagate, Yiqi constructed a molecular dynamics model to simulate different kinds of lubricant structures for hard disk drive application. His work has provided a good understanding of lubricant structure design and its effect on lubricant transfer event in the head-disk interface."