Flow of Binary and Tertiary Mixtures of Waxes

¹ University of Michigan, School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The property of flow was used to study binary and tertiary mixtures of wax, since it was more sensitive to differences between batches of wax than the thermal expansion. The flow of various batches of the same wax showed that significant differences may exist between batches, and some sensitive test should be used in the selection of waxes for research studies.

Addition of carnauba to paraffin wax resulted in a reduction of the flow and an increase in the transition temperature when a definite increase in flow was observed. Addition of beeswax to paraffin wax decreased the flow only slightly. The flow of tertiary mixtures of the waxes could not be predicted on the basis of the flow of binary mixtures.