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10 Wax Industry Terms You Should Know

10 Wax Industry Terms You Should Know

Wax blends are used in a variety of products. If you need a wax blend for your product, you should know these wax terms.

Wax blend

1. Formats

Bulk wax blends can be processed in a variety of packaging formats depending on your needs. We produce pastilles, slabs and liquid bulk packaging formats for our wax blends.

2. Needle Penetration

The needle penetration measurement test is used to measure the hardness of wax.

3. Viscosity

Viscosity is the measure of a liquid’s resistance to flow. For example, honey has a higher viscosity than water.

4. Congealing Point

The congealing point is a wax property that measures the temperature where wax begins to harden. It is close to the solid state, but not quite completely hardened. Each type of wax has a different congealing point.

5. Synthetic Waxes

Synthetic waxes are man-made. They are typically composed of natural gas and ethylene. Synthetic waxes include fatty acid amide, polyolefin, Fischer-Tropsch and polar synthetic waxes.

6. Petrolatum

Not to be confused with petroleum, petrolatum is the wax byproduct of heavy lubricating oil. It is filtered and blended into petroleum jelly. It is a semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons.

7. Crude Wax

Crude wax is an unrefined mixture with a high percentage of oil. It is used to manufacture  scale and paraffin waxes.

8. Slack Wax

Slack wax is an unrefined, crude wax containing a fairly high percentage of oil.

9. Melting Point

The melting point is the temperature measurement where solid wax becomes liquid. Different wax types have different melt points.

10. Hydrogenated Triglyceride

Hydrogenated triglycerides are also known as tallow. They form a waxy solid during the hydrogenation process of oils and fats from animals.

If you are interested in learning more about common wax industry terms, check out our Waxipedia or wax terms glossary!