The new frontier of fluorinated lubricants

摘要

Perfluoropolyethers (PFPEs) are synthetic fluids which have been largely used in the lubrication industry for over 30 years. These oils have always found applications in specialized sectors such as aerospace, military, handling of oxygen and aggressive chemicals due to their peculiar properties like high temperatures stability, very low vapour pressures, high viscosity index, and chemical resistance. In the synthesis based on the low temperature oxy-polymerization of perfluoroolefins, the peroxidic units of the structure, randomly distributed along the chain, can be easily removed by thermal treatment or under UV exposure, thus obtaining a highly stable PFPE. The chemistry of the peroxidic PFPEs has been recently exploited for the synthesis of a new class of PFPE block copolymers that can be prepared by decomposing the peroxidic units in the presence of free radical homopolymerizable fluoroolefins.