Mechanical Properties Study of Recycled Machinable Wax

Machinable wax has been widely used nowadays. It is formulated to absorb no moisture, provides an accurate and dimensionally stable tool for master pattern machining. Machinable wax is important when doing project which requires producing prototype. This wax could be used in order to minimize the cost due to losses of unreliable production processes. Machinable wax is a very hard wax that is reusable and would not gum up the cutting surfaces of the equipment or cutting tool but yet it is soft enough to machine quickly. However, even though machinable wax is reusable, the mechanical properties of the wax before and after recycled must be taken into consideration since it might be some changes. These changes can affect the integrity of the prototype. Therefore, the objective of this is to study the mechanical properties of recycled machinable wax. Tensile test is done on machinable wax using dog bone shaped as recommended by ASTM D 638. At first, machinable wax is cut into smaller block before it can be recycled. After the wax is recycled, again specimen is shaped and this may continue until wax is recycled for third times. Next, laboratory testing is done by using the specimen and the mechanical properties are recorded. Stress strain curve is drawn based on tensile test result (force against elongation). Then, mechanical properties are calculated using the stress strain curve.