Influence of Oil Content in Paraffins on the Behavior of Wax Emulsions: Wetting and Rheology

For decades, paraffin emulsion has been used in chipboard panel manufacturing for the purpose of making it both water and damp proof. A most important variable when assessing the effectiveness of the emulsion as a water‐resistant agent in the panel is the oil content of the paraffin. Although this aspect has been dealt with from the manufacturing (Carll, 1996) approach, there is scarcely any literature that relates the oil content in paraffin to chipboard panel waterproofing or to the stability of the emulsion. In this article the influence that oil content exerts on waterproofing capacity is determined using the ADSA technique by studying the water‐vapor‐solid interface in a wood substrate coated in paraffin with a drop of water placed on top. Thus, the water‐resistant capacity of a chipboard panel is related to the paraffin oil content in the emulsion. Furthermore, in this article, paraffin oil content is also related to the emulsion stability through its rheological behavior in both the fluid and dynamic patterns.

Keywords:

• Wax emulsions
• paraffins
• wetting
• rheology
• emulsion stability