The kinetics and mechanism of titanium corrosion by Krytox MLO-71-6 are reported. The rate of corrosion is found to be dependent on the presence of molecular oxygen in the environment. For titanium corrosion to occur, the lubricant chains must first break down into smaller reactive molecules. This degradation process is accelerated by TiF3 corrosion products on the metal surface, thus giving rise to a chain mechanism. The corrosion is not promoted by intense CW laser illumination at λ = 514nm.