Testing - Presence of Wax

[Mike2]

Tim, or anyone else:

Do you have any tricks to test for the presence of wax? ...perhaps, but not limited to, wax on the backs of porcelain tile. :)

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[DVM]

Just sprinkle a few drops of water on the surface. If it soaks in, no wax.:)

[Mike2]

Thanks DVM, that's certainly one of the things I would normally do ....'cept I got this porcelain tile yesterday, very dense, Moh's of 9, and don't think much of anything's gonna soak in back there.

Going over Ditra, Masterblend, so just want to make sure that tile is squeeky clean and wax free.

[Dan the Man]

Originally posted by Mike2
I got this porcelain tile yesterday, very dense, Moh's of 9, and don't think much of anything's gonna soak in back there.

Correct, porcelain that is fully vitrified has a water absorbtion rate of less than 0.5% and a vitrified porcelain has a water absorbtion rate of, is it 1.5% from memory? so wax or no wax the chances are the water will evaporate before it soaks in.

If the wax isn't visibly there I am sure you will be ok fixing with a good flexible adhesive as they have strong polymers blended in the powder to help bonding properties.

Dan

[John Bridge]

Mike,

I'm going to turn this around a bit. Why would you think there might be wax on the backs of the tiles? There is probably some kiln release, but I don't think there would be wax.

[Dan the Man]

Sometimes in packaging they thread a few lines of wax down the face of the tiles to protect them (scratching), these machines obviously leak wax all over the place.

Although it usually falls off while you carry the tiles up the 3000 stairs which you are usually presented with when you turn up on the job :shrug:

[Mike2]

Great question John, and I'm prolly 'bout ready to learn something new, again. ;)

There is what's prolly kiln release on the backs of these tiles, very white, hard, can't scratch it off stuff highlighting all the ridges....and to be real honest here, I don't have a clue what kiln release is; Good, bad, whatever.

Now, I do know what mold release is and I know that'a be a wax...bad stuff to have on my backs. So question re. how to test for presence of wax could have, prolly should have been asked...Do I need to worry about this kiln release crapola? :eek:

[John Bridge]

Kiln release goes by other terms that escape me at the moment, but it is the hard whitish stuff you mention. The conveyors that carry the tiles into the kiln are stainless steel, and to keep the clay bisque (tile body) from sticking, they apply the kiln release. It's usually not a problem on porcelain tiles because porcelain tiles don't really want to stick to anything anyway. So as long as there is no loose material on the backs of the tiles, don't worry about it. If you do find loose material, brush or wash it off.

Several years ago we had some lengthy conversations about kiln release at the Aussie forum, Info Tile. I'll bet if you run a search on that site you'll bring up some info. There were some pretty knowledgeable folks involved in those discussions. ;)

http://www.infotile.com.au/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgi

The wax that Dan is talking about is in the form of small spots or longer lines that are sometimes applied to very shiny tiles, most usually in Italy. It can be a pain to remove, but it doesn't contaminate the tiles. I'd like to get my hands on a couple of those Italian tile packers, though. :D