Desorption or evaporation is one of the mechanisms for loss of perfluoropolyalkylether (PFPE) lubricants from the surfaces of data storage media. One approach to minimizing PFPE loss to desorption is the use of lubricants with increasing molecular weight or increasing average chain length. In order to understand the effects of chain length on the lubricant evaporation kinetics we have studied t...

The low-friction properties of quasicrystal surfaces suggest their use as coatings on moving machine parts, including those in internal combustion engines. In such applications, additional lubricants are typically used. Since the low-friction properties of quasicrystals are thought to depend on their aperiodic structures, the interactions of lubricants on quasicrystalline surfaces may have an i...

An understanding of the relationship between chemical structure and lubricant performance is highly desirable from both a fundamental and a practical perspective, such knowledge being vital to improve the performance of mineral oils and to guide the design of future synthetic lubricants. The rheological properties of alkanes of intermediate molecular size (C20–C40) are of particular interest as...

Two decades ago, the literature dealing with the possible applications of low molar mass liquid crystals, also called monomer liquid crystals (MLCs), only included about 50 references. Today, thousands of papers, conference reports, books or book chapters and patents refer to the study and applications of MLCs as lubricants and lubricant additives and efforts are made to develop new commercial ...

In order to perform Preventive Maintenance (PM), two approaches have evolved in the literature. The traditional approach is based on the use of statistical and reliability analysis of equipment failure. Under statistical-reliability (S-R)-based PM, the objective of achieving the minimum total cost is pursued by establishing fixed PM intervals, which are statistically optimal, at which to replac...