Oxidized wax is a kind of wax that has been contacted and studied earlier in China, mainly including the following kinds: oxidized paraffin, oxidized microcrystalline wax and oxidized polyethylene wax. At present, with the continuous progress of technology, oxidized paraffin has been quite mature, but its performance in heat resistance, polishing, tensile strength and friction resistance is not as good as the newly developed oxidized microcrystalline wax and oxidized polyethylene wax, so the latter has been more widely used.
The structure of oxidized microcrystalline wax contains cycloalkanes and branched alkanes, and the activation energy required for the reaction is high. Therefore, the reaction conditions are harsh. It is prepared by oxidation reaction by introducing air in its molten state and adding drilling soap or manganese soap as catalyst.
When preparing oxidized polyethylene wax, only the reaction conditions of oxidized microcrystalline wax need to be changed slightly, because the preparation methods of the two are not much different, but the preparation conditions of oxidized polyethylene wax are relatively easy. The reaction results in a polyethylene wax containing complex mixture, including a variety of organic compounds, such as organic carboxylic acids, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, esters, etc. at the same time, a variety of oxygen-containing groups such as – COOH, – Oh, – co – are introduced into the structure of polyethylene wax, and its emulsifying performance is significantly improved. Polyethylene wax is also divided into many kinds, such as high-density polyethylene wax prepared under low pressure and low-density polyethylene wax prepared under high pressure.
The structure of oxidized wax determines that it has some good properties. For example, the structure contains a large number of oxygen-containing groups, which can reduce the interfacial tension required for emulsification, make the reactants easy to disperse, reduce the amount of emulsifier and greatly improve its emulsifying performance; The structure contains a large number of carboxyl groups and has strong affinity with alkaline pigments, which makes it have good dispersibility; Polar groups are introduced into the structure, which has good lubricity in processing; It also has the advantages of increasing oil solubility and improving the toughness of raw materials. However, compared with the same category of products in developed countries, the oxidized wax developed in China is dwarfed. The main problem lies in the dark color, heavy smell and many impurities, which are difficult to be used in daily chemical enterprises; Low yield, few varieties, and substandard acid value and hardness. In short, it needs to be continuously improved.
The modified polyethylene wax lotion has been studied in developed countries for a long time, and there are many achievements and application fields, such as Allied Signal Inc. Stepan company in the United States, BASF and Stahl companies in Germany, and more than 100 kinds of applications have been made. The domestic modified polyethylene wax lotion is also mainly used to produce various polishing agents and textile softeners. Compared with foreign countries, it has less application fields. However, with the deepening of research, the amount of relevant literature reports and application fields will increase day by day.
