“The path to domestic substitution of \"Noble Lubricant\" fluorinated ether lubricants

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Fluorinated ether lubricants are known as \"luxury lubricants\" and are essential key materials in advanced manufacturing industries such as aerospace, high-end equipment, and semiconductor production. However, the production and supply of this key chemical have long been monopolized by foreign countries, restricting the development of related industries in our country. Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the list of organizations selected for the \"Innovation Projects for Key Products in the Fine Chemicals Sector.\" Shandong Dongyue Polymer Materials Co., Ltd., Tianjin Changlu New Chemical Materials Co., Ltd., and Sinopec Lubricants Co., Ltd. have jointly undertaken the project related to fluoroether lubricants, aiming to work together to ensure that such lubricants can be produced independently and under control. 　　Fluorinated ether lubricant is a high-molecular-weight synthetic material that appears as a colorless, odorless, clear and transparent liquid at room temperature. According to Dr. Zhang Zhijun from Tianjin Lu Chemical New Materials Co., Ltd., it has a unique molecular structure, consisting solely of carbon, fluorine, and oxygen. This material replaces the hydrocarbon bonds found in conventional lubricants with carbon-fluorine bonds that possess extremely high stability, and it uses fluorine atoms in place of hydrogen atoms. Due to the special chemical properties of fluorine atoms, intermolecular forces are weakened and surface tension is reduced, enabling perfluoropolyether oils to exhibit superior lubricating properties and greater penetration capabilities. Furthermore, the strong carbon-fluorine bonds can firmly encase the molecular backbone, forming a protective layer that prevents the oil from oxidizing and from reacting with chemicals such as acids and bases. Perfluoropolyether oils with a higher relative molecular mass are difficult to evaporate; they can remain in a liquid state over a very wide temperature range, and their viscosity is only slightly affected by temperature changes, which gives them greater versatility for use. 　　It is precisely due to this unique molecular structure that this lubricant possesses excellent properties such as high-temperature resistance, oxidation resistance, radiation resistance, corrosion resistance, low volatility, and low flammability. At the same time, it has strong compatibility and can be used properly in combination with various materials such as plastics, rubbers, and metals. Thanks to these performance advantages, this lubricant is capable of withstanding various extremely harsh operating conditions, exhibiting high stability and reliability. It is currently widely used in industries such as chemicals, mechanical and electrical equipment, machinery manufacturing, and aerospace. 　　However, for over half a century, the production and supply of fluorinated ether lubricants have been dominated by foreign companies, resulting in high technical and market barriers. According to Dr. Zhang Jian from Shandong Dongyue Polymer Materials Co., Ltd., through years of continuous efforts, domestic companies have gradually achieved some progress in replacing imported products with domestically produced ones. However, issues such as poor product quality, an incomplete range of product types, and difficulties in introducing high-end applications still exist, which in turn affects the resilience and security of China’s manufacturing industry’s supply chains. 　　Currently, the main types of fluoroether lubricants are K-type, Y-type, D-type, and Z-type. Each of these four types has its own advantages in terms of performance, and they complement each other in applications. The product that Dongyue Polymers is focusing on developing this time is Z-type perfluoropolyether. The industrial development of this type of material in China is relatively slow, it presents higher technical challenges, and its application requirements are extremely strict. Zhang Jian pointed out that the technical challenges mainly lie in two aspects: first, during the production process, it is necessary to achieve coupled control of various factors such as irradiation, thermal fields, and kinetics in the polymerization reaction, as well as to carry out creative design and ensure the stable operation of the related engineering technologies; second, as a high-end application product, stable quality is key to replacing imported products, which makes precise analysis and control of various parameters another challenge in research and development. 　　In the face of these challenges, the selected companies will act as the leading enterprises of their respective consortia, leveraging their product and technical strengths to work together to address the shortcomings of domestic fluorinated ether lubricants, thereby achieving independent breakthroughs in core technologies and their practical application in industry. 　　Among them, Shandong Dongyue Polymer Materials Co., Ltd., focusing on the \"task assignment through competitive bidding\" initiative, leverages the technical expertise accumulated over years of research and development in perfluoropolyethers and related fields to match foreign companies in terms of production capacity, quality, and various product grades. At the same time, the company will carry out applied research in collaboration with research institutions and downstream customers, striving to move from playing a role in substitution to taking the lead in development. It aims to meet the current demands for domestic substitution in various sectors of the national economy, while also conducting forward-looking research to address the new needs in key industries such as aerospace, new energy, the low-altitude economy, and robotics. 　　Tianjin Changlu Chemical New Materials Co., Ltd. leverages its strengths in research and development as well as production of new fluorine-based chemical materials to focus on overcoming the key technical challenges associated with perfluoropolyether lubricants. On the one hand, the company will adopt a collaborative model involving industry, academia, research institutions, and end-users. By combining efforts with research teams from universities and key downstream customers, it will form task forces to address specific challenges. Taking into account the requirements of extreme operating conditions, and leveraging the product’s core advantages such as heat resistance, corrosion resistance, low volatility, and good compatibility, the company will optimize the molecular structure and formulation to develop high-performance lubricants that are well-suited for such applications. On the other hand, the company will improve the entire value chain ranging from research and development, pilot production, mass production to market application, in order to overcome the barriers to translating research results into actual products in mass production. It will continue to enhance the lubricity, penetration capacity, and temperature adaptability of its products, accelerating the transformation of technical prototypes into industrial products and market-ready goods, thereby achieving simultaneous progress in breaking through core technologies and bringing them to practical use in industry.