The word "wax" usually refers to a variety of

organic substances that are solid at ambient temperature but become free-
flowing liquids at slightly higher temperatures. The chemical
composition of waxes is complex, but normal alkanes are always present
in high proportion and molecular weight profiles tend to be wide.
According to the chemical composition waxes are basically esters of
long chain fatty acids and long chain monohydric or polyhydric alcohols,
each containing 16-34 carbon atoms(C atoms).
Introduction:
Naturally they are produced by plants and animals and also found in
petroleum.
Their melting point ranges from 35-100 degree centigrade.
They are soluble in organic solvents and in-soluble in water.
In general, these are found in nature as a mixture of esters.
So we can say that :
Waxes are the mixed esters of higher monohydric
or polyhydric alcohols other than glycerol with fatty acids.
Classification of waxes
Waxes can be classified as Natural and Synthetic
Natural Waxes
Animal Waxes
Vegetable waxes
Mineral waxes



Animal waxes
Animal waxes are obtained from the
protective layer of different insects. For example

Bees wax - produced by honey bees.
Chinese wax - produced by the scale insect Ceroplastes ceriferus.
Earwax - found in the human ear.
Lanolin (wool wax) - from the sebaceous glands of sheep.
Shellac wax - from the lac insect Kerria lacca.
Spermaceti - from the head cavities and blubber of the sperm whale.
Vegetable waxes
Vegetable waxes are obtained from the
leaves , stems, flowers and seeds of plants. Following are the examples
of these types of waxes:

Carnauba wax - from the leaves of the Carnauba palm.
Candelilla wax - from the Mexican shrubs Euphorbia cerifera .
Bayberry wax - from the surface wax of the fruits of the bayberry
shrub.
Castor wax - catalytically hydrogenated castor oil.
Jojoba oil - a replacement for spermaceti, jojoba is pressed from the
seeds of the jojoba bush.
Rice bran wax - obtained from rice bran .
Soya wax - from soybean oil.
Mineral waxes
Mineral waxes are paraffin waxes which are obtained
from petroleum. For example:
Paraffin wax - made of long-chain alkane hydrocarbons
Microcrystalline wax - with very fine crystalline structure
Petroleum jelly-Petrolatum or petroleum jelly is essentially a mixture
of microcrystalline wax and oil.
Ceresin waxes -wax like the paraffin consists of a group of
hydrocarbons relates to methane with low acid number so that it's
important in rubber compounding.




Mountain wax - extracted from lignite and brown coal
Ozocerite - found in lignite beds
Peat waxes-dark waxy substance extracted from peat using
organic solvents.
Synthetic Waxes
Synthetic waxes are produced primarily
from ethylene. These materials are less variable than natural products
and less inclined to price fluctuations since supply is not dependent on
weather, rain fall etc. which can affect Carnauba production.

Polyethylene waxes
Polypropylene wax
Tetrafluoroethylen (PTFE)
Ethylene-Acrylic Acid (EAA)
Polyethylene waxes
Polyethylene waxes are manufactured from
ethylene which is generally produced from natural gas.
Polypropylene wax
Polypropylene wax is generally
polymerized from propylene and then either maleated or oxidized to give
chemical functionality so that it is more easily emulsified.
Tetrafluoroethylen (PTFE)
PTFE is a fluorocarbon polymer. .
The fluorine component gives this product additional release, slip and
rubs characteristics.
Ethylene-Acrylic Acid (EAA)
EAA co-polymer
properties are more resin like than wax. These polymers have high
20% acrylic acid content. These products are high molecular weight
with excellent adhesion to a wide range of substrates.
Physical Properties of waxes

Melting point, boiling point and melt viscosity
The melting point of n-alkanes increases with molecular weight. Over
the carbon atom number range from C, to C 25
th
relationship between
the melting point and the carbon atom number cannot be described with
one single function for even-numbered and odd-numbered n-alkanes, i.e.
the melting points are higher and lower, respectively, than the average
values calculated from even- and odd numbered n-alkane melting points.
Density and thermal expansion
The density of paraffin waxes increases with their melting point
increases
Table . Densities of microcrystalline paraffin waxes having different
melting points
Optical properties
The refractive index is a physical property
frequently used for identifying substances and for determining their
compositions. The refractive index of paraffin waxes is usually measured
at 80 to 85
o
C. The refractive indices of microcrystalline paraffin waxes
at 84
o
C vary between 1.4210 and 1.4315, their molar refraction between
100 and 154.
Water vapor permeability
In the manufacture of
packaging materials, paraffin waxes are chiefly used to reduce water
vapor permeability of paper. This is valid for both coating and laminating
waxes, the latter being often applied for the sake of the low vapor
permeability of the paraffin wax film.
Water resistance
Water and aqueous solutions come into
direct contact with waxed paperboard used for containers of deep-frozen
food, milk cartons, paper cups, etc. Therefore, resistance to water is an
important requirement in those applications where no water must be
allowed to penetrate through the paraffin wax film. Resistance to water
of lower-melting microcrystalline paraffin waxes is superior to that of
microcrystalline refined waxes. This difference is presumably due to the
denser crystal structure
Tests and application
of Waxes
COLOUR
Paraffin wax is generally white in color, whereas
microcrystalline wax and petrolatum range from white to
almost black. A fully refined wax should be virtually colorless
when examined in the molten state. Absence of color is of
particular importance in wax used for pharmaceutical purposes
or for the manufacture of food wrappings..
TEST
The test method for the color of petroleum products is
used for wax and petrolatum that are too dark for the
Saybolt colorimeter. A liquid sample is placed in the
test container, a glass cylinder of 30- to 35-mm ID,
and compared with colored glass disks ranging in
value from 0.5 to 8.0 by using a standard light source.
If an exact match is not found, and the sample color
falls between two standard colors, the higher of the
two colors is reported.
Density

Density is an important property of petroleum products because
petroleum and especially petroleum products are usually bought
and sold on that basis or, if on a volume basis, then converted to a
mass basis via density measurements.
For clarification, it is necessary to understand the basic definitions
that are used:
Density is the mass of liquid per unit volume at 15C
Relative density is the ratio of the density of liquid at 15C to the
density of pure water at the same temperature
specific gravity is the same as the relative density, and the terms
a are used interchangeably