The Effects of Beeswax Additions on the Structural, Thermal, Mechanical and Mass Loss Properties of Soy Wax Blends

The typical of beeswax, dammar, rosin, paraffin, and microcrystalline wax. batik wax compositions used in Malaysia consist of various blends This study aims to characterize soy wax/beeswax blends’ structural, thermal, strength, and mass loss properties as potential alternative batik wax compositions. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results showed that the additions of beeswax (wt%) into soy wax resulted in possible chemical interaction for the esters (C=O stretching and C-H bending vibrations), hydrocarbons (CH2 scissor formation), and cholestral esters (C=O stretching vibrations). The thermal profile obtained via differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) respectively revealed an increase in peak melting temperature and reduced thermal stability of the blends with further increments of beeswax. In addition, beeswax enhances the compression strength by 150% but did not have any significant impact on the modulus of the blends. E valuation of the mass loss test suggested that beeswax in the range of 40 wt% to 60 wt% can be considered as alternative batik resist material due to its moderate leaching tendency. Future works shall be conducted to evaluate the performance of these wax compositions against other batik wax criteria and the feasibility of printing these waxes using an in-house designed batik printer.