A New Approach to Highly Fluorinated Lubricants.

Abstract : Perfluorinated polyethers constitute an important class of materials that demonstrate exceptional chemical and thermal stability, amongst organic liquids, and some of these materials show good lubricant properties. Consequently, such materials are of special interest to the U.S.A.F. as lubricants in agressive environments and, particularly, as potential liquid lubricants for high temperature/high efficiency aero engines. The aim of this project is to explore new approaches to the synthesis of perfluorinated ethers because the main problem that limits the wider application of industrially available materials is their high cost, which is an inevitable consequence of the limited methodology available, Keywords: Fluorinated polyethers, Direct fluorination, Polymer modification, Cobalt trifluoride.