What is the difference between paraffin and polyethylene wax？

What is the difference between paraffin and polyethylene wax? They are two different types of waxes and different roles. Polyethylene wax has better performance.

Paraffin wax, also known as crystal wax, is usually a white, colorless and odorless waxy solid that dissolves at 47°C-64°C with a density of about 0.9 g/cm3. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in ether, benzene and some esters. According to different degrees of processing and refining, it can be divided into 3 types: fully refined paraffin wax, semi-refined paraffin wax and crude paraffin wax.

Polyethylene wax is a homopolymer or copolymer of low molecular weight polyethylene that is widely used in coatings. The wax means that this polymer ends up in the form of microcrystals floating in the surface layer of the coating to play a similar role to paraffin wax but there are more diverse and practical than paraffin wax.

The main role of polyethylene wax in solvent-based coating is: matting, anti-scratch, anti-abrasion, anti-polishing, anti-carving, anti-adhesive, anti-precipitation, thixotropic; good lubricity and processability.

In general, many manufacturers of pvc pipe profiles prefer to use paraffin wax as lubricants. However, the softening point of paraffin wax is low and the dispersion is not good. When the temperature is too high in the production process, paraffin wax basically liquefies and becomes gaseous and evaporates, so the brightness of the pvc pipe will be affected, and sometimes there will be stains on the surface because of uneven dispersion.

The pvc pipe profiles produced with PE wax will not have such problems, because the softening point of PE wax itself is high, and under high temperature conditions, PE wax will only become liquid.