PARA-2281
PARA-2281 paraffin: the soft 22/28 base
The softest paraffin on this site and the only one that clears below 30 C. It exists here as a hardness modifier: a blend component that drops the melting point of a harder paraffin without dropping its oil binding.
Melt band 20–90 °C — every live specimen pinned at its own interval
20 °C55 °C90 °C
| First softening | 24.0 °C | Surface yields to light finger pressure. |
|---|---|---|
| Slab stage | 26.0 °C | Pourable but still slushy at the edges. |
| Clear point | 28.5 °C | Fully liquid, no seed crystals left. |
| Congeal point | 23.0 °C | Surface skins over on cooling. |
| Phase width | 4.5 °C | Clear point minus first softening. |
| DSC peaks | 25.2 °C · 27.7 °C | Calorimetry peak temperatures, 2 °C/min ramp. |
| Crystal β′ | 21.0 °C | 10 nm · 66° |
At 16.8 % shrinkage this is the highest figure on the site, and at 9 units of needle penetration the softest. Those two numbers pull in opposite directions: the wax contracts hard but stays plastic, so it does not crack, it deforms. In a container that reads as a top that is level but slightly wavy at the edge.
Its real use is as a 15 to 30 % component in a pillar blend. Every point of PARA-2281 added drops the blend clear point by roughly 0.8 C and lowers the needle penetration by roughly 1.5 units, which is a predictable way to soften a brittle 47/50 without the fragrance weeping that comes from raising the oil content.
Crystal forms
| Form | Transition | Layer | Tilt |
|---|---|---|---|
| beta-prime β′ | 21.0 °C | 10 nm | 66° |
Same-family shrinkage comparison
Shrink — the filled bar is this grade, the hollow bars are its family siblings
Known failure modes
| Trigger | Threshold | Known failure modes |
|---|---|---|
| PAR-SLUMP | standalone use → ambient above 25 C | A pillar of pure PARA-2281 leans within a day. Use it only as a blend component. |
| PAR-WAVY | blend ratio → above 35 % | The top edge of a pillar goes wavy and the surface loses its polish. Keep the component at or below 35 %. |
Burn records for this grade
| Date | Burn report | Hour | Pool ⌀ mm | Soot 0–10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-05 | PARA-2281 votive in glass, 24 hours | 24 | 54.0 | 7.8 |
Protocol
- P-06 four-hour burn sessionCapped multi-session burn with hourly dimensional readings
Other live specimens
- BEE-9400 Beeswax 11.5% · 88
- COCO-8300 Coconut wax 6.8% · 12
- PARA-1275 same family 12.9% · 21
- PARA-4625 same family 14.2% · 15
- PARA-4780 same family 13.5% · 17
- SOY-415 Soy wax 9.6% · 34
- SOY-4641 Soy wax 8.4% · 22
- SOY-P22 Soy wax 10.8% · 29