LAUSR

Abstract Ionic liquids (ILs) could be promising candidates for heat-assisted magnetic recording media due to their extraordinary properties such as considerably thinner monolayer (ML) thickness and extremely good thermal stability. In this paper, the physical properties and mechanism clearance of some novel fluorinated ILs were investigated through several analytical technologies including contact angle, FTIR, XPS, AFM, TGA and Candela OSA. Although the ML thickness of the ionic lubricants was confirmed only 50 – 60 % of that of conventional PFPEs, their evaporation performance as two-dimension lubricant nanofilm is significantly inferior to conventional PFPEs. In addition, the greater surface energy of ILs vs conventional PFPE lubricants, resulting in their poor mechanical clearance. The findings here reveal critical challenges in the developing of ionic lubricants for thin film magnetic media and may serve as guidance for the future design of ILs as media lubricants.