Krytox is a registered

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

The Chemours Company Chemours (, ) is an American chemical company that was founded in July 2015 as a spin-off from DuPont. It has its corporate headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. History In October 2013, DuPont announced that it was planning to ...

. It refers to a group of colourless synthetic

lubricant A lubricant (sometimes shortened to lube) is a substance that helps to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces move. It may also have the function of transmitting forces, t ...

s (

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

s and greases) with a variety of applications. Invented by researchers at

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

, Krytox oils are

fluorocarbon Fluorocarbons are chemical compounds with carbon-fluorine bonds. Compounds that contain many C-F bonds often has distinctive properties, e.g., enhanced stability, volatility, and hydrophobicity. Fluorocarbons and their derivatives are commerci ...

ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be c ...

polymers of poly

hexafluoropropylene oxide Hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO) is an intermediate used in industrial organofluorine chemistry; specifically it is a monomer for fluoropolymers. This colourless gas is the epoxide of hexafluoropropylene, that is fluorinated analog of propylene ...

, with a chemical formula: F−(CF(CF₃)−CF₂−O)_''n''−CF₂CF₃, where the

degree of polymerization The degree of polymerization, or DP, is the number of monomeric units in a macromolecule or polymer or oligomer molecule. For a homopolymer, there is only one type of monomeric unit and the ''number-average'' degree of polymerization is given b ...

, n, generally lies within the range of 10 to 60. DuPont Krytox Performance Lubricants Product Overview, available onlin
here
These compounds are collectively known by many names including

perfluoropolyether Perfluoropolyether (PFPE) is a type of liquid lubricant that has been used in the aerospace industry for over 30 years. The main properties of PFPE are being temperature resistant between and (depending on specific composites), having very low ou ...

(PFPE), perfluoroalkylether (PFAE) and perfluoropolyalkylether (PFPAE). A unique identifier is their

CAS registry number A CAS Registry Number (also referred to as CAS RN or informally CAS Number) is a unique identification number assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), US to every chemical substance described in the open scientific literature. It inclu ...

, 60164-51-4. In addition to PFPE, Krytox grease also contains telomers of

PTFE Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. It is one of the best-known and widely applied PFAS. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemour ...

and in fact was designed as a liquid or grease form of PTFE. It is thermally stable, nonflammable (even in

liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applica ...

), and insoluble in water, acids, bases, and most organic

solvent A solvent (s) (from the Latin '' solvō'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. Water is a solvent for ...

s. It is nonvolatile and useful over a broad temperature range of or higher. Its high resistance to

ionizing radiation Ionizing radiation (or ionising radiation), including nuclear radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have sufficient energy to ionize atoms or molecules by detaching electrons from them. Some particles can travel ...

makes it useful for the aerospace and nuclear industries. Formulations exist which are able to withstand extreme pressure, resist outgassing in high vacuum, and operate under intense mechanical stress. Other companies manufacture PFPE lubricants, such as

Solvay Solvay may refer to: Companies and organizations * Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Brussels, Belgium * Solvay Conference, founded by Ernest Solvay, deals with open questions in physics and chemistry * Solvay Indupa, an Argen ...

's Fomblin range, with some formulations having comparable properties.

Safety

The manufacturer states on Krytox tubes, "May cause mild skin and eye irritation. Contact with very hot surfaces (above 500°F/260°C) can generate fumes which can cause coughing or respiratory irritation. Large amounts could lead to lung damage which might not be apparent for several hours. These fumes may also cause

flu-like symptoms Influenza-like illness (ILI), also known as flu-like syndrome or flu-like symptoms, is a medical diagnosis of possible influenza or other illness causing a set of common symptoms. These include fever, shivering, chills, malaise, dry cough, loss ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Non-petroleum based lubricants DuPont