BACKGROUND

High-performance lubricants are used in a large number of diverse applications. The requirements for these lubricants are becoming more demanding due to a variety of factors, including increased miniaturization of electronic and mechanical devices, higher-temperature operating conditions, increased expectations for product lifetimes, and expanded ranges of operating and storage environments.

One application in which high-performance lubricants are subject to ever-increasing demands is in magnetic recording apparatuses such as hard disk drives. Some lubricants for hard disk drives include perfluoropolyethers. There remains, however, a need for optimizing lubricants, such as perfluoropolyethers (PFPEs), to meet ever-increasing demands.

SUMMARY

This disclosure is directed to fluoropolyether compounds that can be used as a lubricant, such as for magnetic recording media. The fluoropolyether compounds reduce the head to media distance while keeping comparable reliability in the hard disk drive compared to current industrial widely used fluoropolyether based lubricants.

The present disclosure provides fluoropolyether compounds of formula (1):
A-OH2C—p(F2C)—O—R1—(CF2)p—CH2O—CH2CH(OH)CH2—OCH2—(CF2)p—R1—O—(CF2)p—CH2O—B  (1)

where:

R1is —(CF2O)x(CF2CF2O)y(CF2CF2CF2O)z(CF2CF2CF2CF2O)w—;

x and y are integers within the range of 0 to 30;

z and w are integers within the range of 0 to 20;

p is an integer within the range of 0 and 4; and

A and B is each a group represented by formula (2):



where:

R is a hydrogen, a C1-10alky group, or an alkoxy group; and

n is 1 or 2.

The fluoropolyether compound can be used as a lubricant on media, such as magnetic media, such as a disk. In some implementations, two or more compounds may be present in the lubricant.

The present disclosure also provides an apparatus, such as a magnetic recording medium, having the fluoropolyether compound present in a lubricant layer thereon.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. These and various other features and advantages will be apparent from a reading of the following Detailed Description.

