Evaluation of Morphological Properties of Perfluoropolyether Films on Magnetic Disks Using Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Coarse-grained molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were applied to reproduce the surface morphology of lubricant films composed of perfluoropolyether (PFPE) Zdol and tri-functional PFPE, which has a functional group at the middle of a molecule as well as functional endgroups at the head and tail of the molecule. The molecular-mesh scanning method was introduced to detect the location of film surface. The effects of the number of polar groups and polymer length on a flat solid surface were studied as lubricant films with periodic boundary conditions. We clarified that the film surface of the tri-functional PFPE lubricant was smoother than Zdol 2000 when compared at the same film thickness condition.