Abstract
Wax based hot melts used for food packaging are blends of paraffin waxes, microcrystalline waxes and low density polyethylene whose characteristics are adapted to each specific application. The results of differential scanning calorimetry analysis at different cooling rates show that the crystallisation temperature of the polyethylene is a linear function of the logarithm of the rate of cooling. By extrapolating these results to very much greater cooling rates, we have assumed the existence of a critical rate of cooling for which the polyethylene and the paraffin wax crystallise simultaneously. By using finite element methods we have produced a heat transfer model that permits the rate of cooling at all points in the paper hot melt structure to be predicted throughout a manufacturing process
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