Study on the Thermal Decomposition of D-4OH PFPE Lubricant by Reactive Molecular Dynamic Simulation for HAMR

Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) is one of the ways of ultrahigh density storage technology. The pulsed laser in the HAMR head heats the nano-region of the disk to Curie temperature. The laser heating causes the decomposition of the PFPE lubricant, which indirectly leads to the failure of head-disk interface (HDI). The reactive molecular dynamics (MDs) simulations are performed to research the thermal decomposition of single and multiple D-4OH lubricants. The effect of three different heating rates on the thermal decomposition process of a single D-4OH lubricant is investigated. The decomposition processes of single and multi-D-4OH molecular chains are the same: the functional end groups degrade first and then the main chain. These results are useful for the optimization of PFPE lubricants for HAMR disks.