Why is silicone wax the best sewing thread lubricant?

Sewing Thread Embroidery Thread Silicone Oil and Wax

Both silicone oil and silicone wax are good lubricating agents, which have a great influence on the lubricity of sewing threads. Silicone wax is divided into water-based silicone wax and oil-based silicone wax. The properties of water-based silicone wax are similar to those of hydroxyl silicone oil emulsion, which can be used for dyeing and lubrication. Oil-based silicone wax can be used in place of dimethyl silicone oil or mixed with it.

For now, silicone wax-based sewing thread lubricants are the best lubricants on the market. Silicone wax is a special process synthesis additive specially developed for sewing thread and embroidery thread. It has better heat shielding effect than ordinary 201 silicone oil, low breakage rate, low filament, and good antistatic properties. Low rate, generally equivalent to 1/3 of 201 silicone oil; and can greatly improve the smoothness and softness of the wire, increase the luster of the wire, and have excellent antistatic properties.

The oiling of sewing thread is divided into two types, one is the dipping method and the other is the contact method.

Under the dipping method, the lubricating agents that can be selected include the following two: cationic hydroxyl silicone oil emulsion (cationic emulsion) and silicone wax water emulsion.

Under the contact method, there are three kinds of lubricating oils that can be selected: wire-making silicone oil (line oil), 201 methyl silicone oil and (anhydrous) silicone wax emulsion.

The products listed above are listed in order of performance from low to high. Of course, the same product can be produced differently by different manufacturers. For example, for the silicone wax water emulsion under the dipping method, if it is done well, it can be completely adsorbed to the sewing thread, and only water is left at the end, no pollution, and it is easy to clean. There is also 201 methyl silicone oil under the contact method. Compared with imported products, domestic products are slightly insufficient in use.

Why do we say silicone wax lubricating oil?

Is the Best Sewing Thread Lubricant?

In principle, silicone wax can stay on the surface of the sewing thread for a longer time. We know that the structure of sewing thread is fluffy. In this case, after oiling the sewing thread, the oil can easily penetrate into the inside of the thread. If all the oil goes into the inside of the thread, where will the sewing thread have good lubrication? Therefore, before the emergence of silicone wax, wire manufacturers ensured the lubricating performance of the wire by increasing the oiling rate. However, there are problems with doing so. First of all, there is no doubt that the cost has increased. In addition, the more oil on the line, the greater the cleaning workload of the line. In addition, there are also problems in use, such as embroidery thread embroidering a pattern, the use of thread is very intensive. Once you have too much oil on your thread, the oil will seep out and contaminate other places when ironing.

As early as the 1980s, foreign countries discovered that silicone wax products are more superior than pure silicone oil. Because it is a complex of silicone oil and wax. We know above that silicone oil can easily penetrate into the interior of the thread, but wax, as a solid, can stay on the surface of the thread. We also know that wax is also a good lubricating product. At the same time, there are many kinds of waxes. According to different needs, silicone wax lubricants can be compounded into the components of antistatic agents, softeners and so on. In this way, not only good lubricity can be provided, but other properties of the sewing thread can also be greatly improved!

Since wax is so good, Can we use wax directly?

There are now such products, such as wax rings, and thread oils. In fact, thread oil is a small amount of silicone oil plus a large amount of white oil (white oil is a kind of wax). We say it doesn’t work. If your requirements are not high, you can use it like this, otherwise it will not work.

Sewing thread is always used on the sewing machine. Now sewing thread is getting faster and faster. Domestically, it is generally around 5,000 stitches/minute, and abroad, it is around 7,000-8,000 stitches/minute, and it can reach 9,000 stitches/minute faster. At this speed, one can infer how hot the sewing machine needle is! The biggest disadvantage of wax is that it is not resistant to high temperature. At high temperatures, the wax will carbonize and coke. If the sewing thread is full of wax, when it passes through the needle hole of the sewing machine at high speed, it will slowly coke in the needle hole, and the final result is that the needle hole is blocked and the thread is broken and stopped. Silicon is high temperature resistant and has a cleaning effect. When the wax is carbonized in the pinhole, the silicon can take it away in time to keep the pinhole open. Therefore, the silicone wax complex can meet the needs of high-speed sewing.

Features of Silicon Wax Lubricants

In summary, silicone wax-based lubricants have the following advantages:

(1) Provide good lubricity, which can make the sewing machine speed up to more than 7000 stitches/min;

(2) Good antistatic properties, providing excellent clustering of sewing threads, that is, the threads are not easy to disperse. Because the wire is not one, but several strands are twisted together. If there is a lot of static electricity, the wires will separate;

(3) The difference between dynamic/static friction is small. In this way, the jitter of the sewing machine needle is small when it moves up and down. The stitches are very flat, which improves the sewing quality;

(4) Reduce the oiling rate and reduce the production cost;