Premium
Water vapor and oxygen permeability of wax films
Author(s) -
Donhowe Greener,
Fennema O.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of the american oil chemists' society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1558-9331
pISSN - 0003-021X
DOI - 10.1007/bf02545345
Subject(s) - wax , polyethylene , beeswax , oxygen permeability , polypropylene , materials science , carnauba wax , low density polyethylene , oxygen , water vapor , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry
The water vapor (WVP) and oxygen (O 2 P) permeabilities of beeswax (BW), candelilla wax (CnW), carnauba wax (CrW) and microcrystalline wax (MW), formed as freestanding films, were determined. CnW and CrW both had small values for O 2 P (0.29 and 0.26 g·m −1 ·sec −1 ·Pa −1 × 10 −14 , respectively), which are less than half the value for high‐density polyethylene and about a decade greater than the value for polyethylene terephthalate. O 2 P values for BW and MW were about 6−9× greater than those of CnW and CrW. WVP of CnW was 0.18 g·m −1 ·sec −1 ·Pa −1 × 10 −12 , which is about one‐half the value for CrW and MW and about one‐third the value for BW. The WVP of CnW was somewhat less than that of polypropylene and somewhat greater than that of high‐density polyethylene. Differences in permeabilities among the wax films are attributed mainly to differences in chemical composition and crystal type as determined by X‐ray diffraction.