Properties of Natural Waxes Used in Dentistry
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Properties of Natural Waxes Used in Dentistry R. G. CRAIG, J. D. EICK,* and F. A. PEYTON University of Michigan, School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, Michigan Waxes used in dentistry are combinations crystalline waxes similar to paraffin but of two or more natural waxes plus small obtained from heavier oil fractions. They amounts of additives, such as oils, natural are to a large extent composed of branched resins, synthetic waxes, and coloring agents. hydrocarbons, crystallize in small plates, The ultimate goal of the combination of and are tougher and more flexible than waxes and additives is to produce dental paraffin waxes. Ceresin is a term that de- waxes that possess a set of given physical scribes waxes from distillates from natural properties over a specified range of tempera- mineral, petroleum, or lignite refining. They ture. Although considerable effort has been contain straight and branched hydrocarbon expended to determine the physical proper- chains of higher molecular weights and are ties desired in dental wax'-' and the proper- ties of dental waxes during their manipula- TABLE 1 tion,4-10 little information is available on CLASSIFICATION AND SOURCES OF the properties of the natural waxes11-16 used WAXES INVESTIGATED as components to produce dental waxes. Such studies have been confined to melting- point curves of binary and ternary mix- Wax Category Source tures;11-13 the effect of composition on the Paraffin .......... Mineral Petroleum specific gravity;14 and the general composi- (Petroleum tion of waxes, their melting points, and Litene.........Mineral ~Microcrystalline the effect of composition on the melting Barnsdahl ......... Mineral Petroleum Ceresin .......... Mineral Petroleum point.15-16 Montan.......... Mineral Lignite The purpose of this investigation, there- Carnauba ......... Plant Palm Tree fore, was to categorize the ingredient waxes Candelilla ......... Plant Wild succulent used in dental waxes by means of physical plant Ouricury ......... Plant Palm tree tests. The flow qualities, melting range, Japan wax ......... Plant Berries of the setting range, and linear thermal expansion Sumac tree of mineral, plant, insect, and inlay waxes Beeswax (yellow) Insect Bees in study. Beeswax (bleached) Insect Bees were measured this Kerr hard wax (blue). Inlay Kerr Mfg. Com- pany Materials and Methods Kerr regular wax (blue) . Inlay Kerr Mfg. Com- SELECTION OF WAXES.-The waxes in- pany vestigated, together with their general cate- gories and sources, are listed in Table 1. Paraffin waxes are of mineral origin from harder than other hydrocarbon waxes. Mon- high boiling fractions of petroleum and are tan waxes are obtained from various ignites, mixtures of chiefly straight-chain-saturated but unlike the other mineral waxes they are hydrocarbons which crystallize in plates or mixtures of long-chain esters accompanied needles. Litene and barnsdahl are micro- by high molecular weight alcohols, acids, Read in part at the 41st General Meeting of the IADR, and resins. As a result, montan wax is hard Pittsburgh, Pa., March, 1963. This investigation was supported in whole by USPHS Re- and brittle. search Grant DE-01234 from the National Institute for Dental com- of Bethesda, Md. Carnauba and ouricury waxes are Research, National Institutes Health, posed of a mixture of straight-chain esters, Received for publication July 20, 1964. alcohols, acids, and hydrocarbons. They are * Present address: Research Division, National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C. characterized by high hardness, brittleness, 1308 Vol. 44, No. 6 PROPERTIES OF NATURAL WAXES USED IN DENTISTRY 1309 and high melting points. Candelilla wax, flow each minute was recorded during the although a plant wax, contains 40-60 per 10-minute testing period. cent paraffin hydrocarbon accompanied by THERMAL EXPANSION.-A porcelain cru- esters, alcohols, and acids. Japan wax is cible of wax was heated in an oven and main- primarily a fat containing glycerides of tained for approximately 15 minutes at palmitic, stearic, and other higher molecular 200 C. above its melting range. The molten weight acids. wax was poured into a brass mold consisting Beeswax is an insect wax which is a of a split cylinder 200 mm. long and 12 mm. complex mixture of esters, consisting mainly in diameter, which had been lubricated with of myricyl palmitate plus saturated and un- a high-melting-point silicone grease and pre- saturated hydrocarbons and organic acids. heated to approximately 100 C. below the It is supplied in a number of grades, the solidification point of the wax. As the wax bleached type being of higher purity. cooled and shrinkage occurred, liquid wax The commercial inlay wax is a mixture of was added. The wax was allowed to solidify waxes with a probable composition of 70 without the application of pressure. The per cent mineral wax, 25 per cent plant wax, mold was allowed to cool in the atmosphere and 5 per cent beeswax. to room temperature and the wax specimen The selection of waxes, therefore, includes removed. Small metal pins having cross a wide range of sources, composition, and marks which served as reference points were properties. The properties of these waxes imbedded in its surface near each end. will control to a great extent the combina- Three weights were attached to the speci- tions used for various applications in den- men by means of string. The wax specimen tistry. was placed in a controlled-temperature wa- MELTING AND SETTING RANGES.-The ter bath, so that the length of each string melting range of four samples of each wax allowed it to float just below the surface of was tested using the closed-capillary-tube the water. The specimen was annealed for method as described by Warth.16 The setting 24 hours at approximately 370 C. A higher range was determined from a plot of the annealing temperature was used with the temperature versus the time curve. A 10- high melting waxes, and a lower tempera- ounce glass jar of wax was melted in an ture was utilized with the low melting waxes. electric oven and maintained for 15 minutes The water bath was cooled to room tem- at a temperature about 200 C. above its perature and the wax specimen allowed to solidification point. The jar of molten wax come to equilibrium. The temperature of the was then placed in the center of a container bath was raised slowly, and the linear ex- 3 inches high and 3.5 inches in diameter, pansion was measured with two micrometer and asbestos insulation was packed around microscopes at approximately 1.50 C. inter- it. A warm thermometer, having a range vals between 200 and 520 C. between -10 and 1010 C. with 0.10 C. sub- Four original samples of each wax were divisions, was placed in the center of the made. Each specimen was tested and then wax, and the top of the container was sealed retested at least once. There was a total of with a large cork. The amount of time be- eight individual tests run on each wax. tween each 0.50 C. temperature drop within a range 200 above and 200 below the setting Results range was recorded. Four samples of each wax were tested. SETTING AND MELTING RANGES.-The set- FLOW.-Specimens were prepared and ting ranges of the mineral and insect waxes tested in accordance with the American are listed in Table 2. The paraffin wax used Dental Association Specification No. 4 for in this investigation exhibited a setting dental inlay casting wax.17 Flow tests were range between 51.50 to 53.00 C. This was performed over a large temperature range, the lowest setting range among the mineral so that the flow properties could be deter- waxes; barnsdahl had the highest setting mined accurately. An automatic micrometer range, 85.00-87.0° C. Four of the five mineral flow tester* was used, and the amount of waxes exhibited a range of 20 or 30 C. while solidifying. Ceresin was the exception, with * B. C. Ames Company, Waltham, Mass. a setting range between 52.00 and 73.00 C. 1310 CRAIG, EICK, A.ND PEYTON J. dent. Res. November-December 1965 TABLE 2 SETTING RANGE AND FLOW PROPERTIES OF MINERAL, INSECT, PLANT, AND INLAY WAXES TEMPERA- SETTING TEMaPERA- TEMPERATURE* TURE TURE-TEMPERATURE SETTING RANGE I Per 50 Per 70 Per RANGES AT 50PER CENTFLOW WAX C. Cent Cent Cent ° C. ° C. Mineral Waxes Paraffin .............. 51.5-53.0 26.0 31.5 33.0 7.0 20.8 Litene ................ 70.0-72.0 42.0 53.4 55.2 13.2 17.6 Barnsdahl ............. 85.0-87.0 47.0 58.0 61.7 14.7 28.0 Ceresin ............... 52.0-73.0 30.0 32.6 33.0 3.0 20.4 Montan .............. 78.5-80.5 65.0 71.1 74.6 9.4 8.4 Insect Waxes Beeswax (yellow) ...... 61.0-63.0 32.0 38.6 39.6 7.6 23.4 Beeswax (bleached) .... 61.0-63.0 39.2 41.8 42.8 3.6 20.2 Plant Waxes Carnauba ............. 80.0-82.0 75.0 77.0 77.6 2.6 4.0 Candelilla ............. 63.0-66.0 56.0 59.5 60.0 4.0 5.0 Ouricury .............. 70.5-72.5 66.0 72.6 74.0 8.0 Japan wax ............ 41.5-44.0 39.5 42.5 43.5 4.0 1.0 Inlay Waxes Kerr hard wax (blue)... 57.0-59.5 37.5 42.2 43.8 6.3 22.8 64.0-66.0 16.0 Kerr regular wax (blue). 55.0-57.5 35.0 40.6 42.2 7.2 27.4 67.5-68.5 15.6 * C. at which 1, 50, and 70 per cent flow occurs.