TECHNICAL INFORMATION ON BUILDING MATERIALS

FOR USE IN THE DESIGN OF LOW-COST HOUSING

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THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

WASHINGTON, D. C.

Erratum

for

TIBM-44

May 5, 1037

Erratum for TIBM - 4h, "Paint Drying; Oils - Linseed"

On page 5» delete the last two lines of paragraph two, "beginning

’’Unless there is a material difference".

TECHNICAL INFOR! NATION OF BUILDING MATERI ALS

TIBM - UU

FOR USE IN T!F DESIGN OF LOU-COST ROUSING

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THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

WASHINGTON, C. C.

March 5, 1057

PAINT DRYING OILS - LINSEED

This is chiefly a digest of sections of the following publications

of the National Bureau of Standards dealing with linseed oil; its manufacture, types, and properties , and Eederal Specifications^ crovering

these factors.

o Circular CoO, "Paint and Varnish", (November 17, 1917).

Letter Circular LCH57 , "Quality of Linseed Oil for Government Use",

(November 2o, 1935)*

Technologic Paper T27^-, "Use

tion Paints and Paint Materials",

and E, F. Hickson.

of United States Government

(December 15, 192U) , by P.

SpecificaH. Walker

Suecificsti ons adopted by the Federal Specifications Executive

Committee and approved by the Director of Procurement, Treasury Department, for use of all departments and establishments of the Government.

Copies of all Federal Specifications mentioned in this digest may be obtained from Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office,

Washington, D. C. (price 5 cents)

2 Out of nrint and no longer available by purchase but may be con- sulted in Government depository libraries. —if ay be obtained, free of charge from the National Bureau of Standards,

Washington, D. C.

Available from Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing

Office, Washington, D. C. (Price 10 cents)

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Manufacturing Processes

Linseed oil, the most important of the drying oils and the principal non- volatile paint vehicle, is obtained from flaxseed. It is produced commercially by grinding the seed, by the Anderson exueller mill

urocess, and by extraction. Regardless of the process used, oil produced from the same seed has practically the same properties. However,

there is a marked variation in oil from seed grown in different localities.

Grinding : The most common practice of producing commercial linseed oil

is to grind the seed, heat the resultant meal with live steam to about

71 C or even as high as 82 C, and then subject it to hydraulic pressure.

Anders or. Pxueller *,f ill : In this process the ground meal is slightly

heated and then forced by a screw against a conical grating through which

the oil passes.

extraction: In the extraction, urocess the ground seed is treated with a light petroleum distillate, which extracts the oil, usually leaving less

than 4 percent oil in the residue.

Tyres

Raw Linseed Oil is uure oil extracted from flaxseed. The oil as it comes

from the press is cloudy, and although it is generally filtered and may

appear to be clear, a certain amount of sediment settles after standing.

This -sediment called "foots" is considered objectionable. Perfectly

clear oil is preferred for most purposes. The quality of raw linseed oil

is more frequently influenced by the presence of excessive "foots" than

by actual impurities. Paint made with oil containing considerable "foots"

is liable to dry very slowly and may easily be washed off long after it

is apparently dry. It is advantageous to filter all linseed oil before

using, especially if it is cloudy.

The raw or unrefined oil when heated above 177°C frequently "breaks"^

and becomes cloudy. This is auuarently due to the rresence of nonoleginous matter such as carbohydrates (mucilage), and phosphates of

Drying oil is "an oil which possesses to a marked degree the property of readily taking up oxygen from the air ar.d changi rg to a relatively

hard, tough, elastic substance when exoosed in a thin film to the air":

"Standard Definitions of Terms Relating to Paint Specifications" , American Society for Testing Materials, A.S.T.M. Standards (19^), Up. 7

7>5~

7W.

?

"Roots" is a term apulied to the solid or serai-solid matter that

settles in the oil on standing. Its composition is quite variable, but it

always contains some mucilaginous matter which is believed to hinder proper

drying of the oil.

^"Break" is the thickening of linseed oil into clots, when it is heated.

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calcium and magnesium. Although the mucilaginous substance causing the oil

to break- constitutes only a small fraction of 1 percent of the oil, such

oil is" not suitable -f*or making varnish and certain other purposes. It is

probable that this mucilaginous substance also forms at least a cart of the

"foots". Long storage tends to produce an oil from "foots", and. one which

will not break,.

Refine d Oil. : Linseed oil is refined to remove all mucilaginous substances.

Refining . also removes some of the coloring matter and causes the oil to become somewhat less viscous. Refined oil is sometimes used in making oaint,

but is more commonly used in the manufacture of varnish which requires an

oil that will not break.

Ac id Process ; The most common method of refining linseed oil is to

agitate it with about 1 uercent strong sulnhuric acid, draw off the acid

after the oil has settled, and wash the oil with water. This urocess

generally increases, to ''ome extent, the free acid content of the oil.

fullers’ Earth Proc ess ; In this process the oil is treated with fullers’ earth 1 at a temperature of about 7^°C and then filtered.

Boiled Oil is a raw oil that has been treated with compounds of lead and

sometimes suitable compounds of other drying metals, to produce a product

that will dry rapidly. Boiled linseed oil is now made by mixing "crusher’s drier"' with the raw oil in the proportion of about 1 to lo, and

heating the mix until the drier is completely incorporated in the oil. It

is generally believed that better oil results if the heating temperature

is raised above 170°C than if, as is frequently done, the oil is simply

heated by steam coils.

Boiled oils made from rosin are called resinate boiled oils, whereas

those made without rosin are called llr.o leate boiled oils. If properly

made, without an excessive amount of rosin, resinate oil is no doubt urohably as good as the linoleate oil. Bunghole boiled oil is simply raw

oil to which a drier, usually consisting of a solution of lead and manganese resinate or linoleate in turpentine or light mineral oil, has been

added without heating.

^fullers' earth, an impure hydrous aluminum silicate, is a soft nonplastic earthy substance.

-The term "boiled linseed oil” is strictly a misnomer, since linseed

oil does not boil as water does; it undergoes decomposition when heated to

a sufficiently high temperature.

-^Crusher's drier is a very concentrated boiled oil containing 1^ to 20

times as much lead and manganese as is required in boiled oil. This drier

is also made from rosin, forming resinates of lead and manganese.
The Bureau ’mows of no case in which Boiled oil is used in paint,

where equally satisfactory results could not he obtained, by using raw oil

and suitable Japan drier.

go died Oil is produced by either heating raw oil, prepared so that it will

not break by long storage or refining, to a temperature of about 228°C; or by blowing air through, it at a temperature of about 121°C. The specific

gravity and viscosity of the oil are both materially increased by the heating process. Blown oils are said to dry harder than oils bodied by heat

al one

.

Properties

Drying : Linseed oil, a £atty oil,^ is characterized, by the presence of

"unsaturated" fatty acid radicles containing at least two double bonds

which provide the property of absorbing oxygen from the air, thereby increasing the specific gravity and changing the oil into a hard horny mass when exposed in thin films.

As raw linseed oil dries so slowly, it is necessary to use a drier

with it. During the early period of drying (the first 10 days) the oil in- creases in weight, 15 to 20 percent maximum, then gradually decreases until

at the end of 180 days the film has resumed its original weight. The dry

film has a much higher specific gravity and. consequently occupies less

space than the original oil. Even while the film is gaining in weight, volatile products such as water, carbon dioxide, and organic acids are given

off,. On outdoor exposures in clear warm weather, linseed oil requires two

to six days for drying.

Color : The color (coloring matter derived principally from seed shells)

of 1 inseed oil varies from a pale straw yellow to a dark umber. Seed grown

in a warm climate generally produces a lighter colored oil than that grown

in a cold climate.

Linseed oil paints, made with oil of ordinary color, when applied on outdoor exposures soon bleach and. become as light as those made with the

palest oil. Although light colored (bleached) oil is usually preferred for

interior work, all linseed oil in paint applied on indoor surfaces tends to

turn yellow and to darken.

Fatty oils are, in general, mixed glycerides of fatty acids (radicles

of fatty acid.s and glycerine in combination)

.

^ Fatty acid is "the acid which is present in fats or oils in combination with glycerine. As the fat breaks down , some of this fatty acid is

liberated and small quantities of it are usually present in the free state.

Fatty acid3 are entering into the recent paint trend in that fatty acids of

certain oils are basic raw materials for synthetic resinous compounds",

Ray C. Martin, "American Paint Journal", March 3 » 193 &*

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Iodine Number , as well as the presence of excessive "foots", has considerable bearing on . the quality of linseed oil. A very large proportion

of linseed oil produced in the United States is crushed from Argentine

seed which is generally characterized by a lower iodine number than that

produced from Forth American seed. During the past ten years this difference has apparently been reversed, probably due to an increased planting of Bisom flax, adverse weather conditions or inadequate cleaning of

the seed before crushing.

Many paint technologists believe that oil of a high iodine number is a better drying oil than that of a low iodine number. The only evidence

to indicate that one is superior to the other is that the \jse of linseed

oil of a low iodine number is likely to result in a paint which dries

slowly, producing a soft film subject to a serious injury from dampness.

Unless there is a material difference in price, it is advisable ! to purchase oil made from Forth American seed.

Federal Specifications

For Federal Specifications see JJJ-O-336 "Oil; Linseed, Raw" cover- ing two types, normal iodine number (177 minimum) and high iodine number

(183 minimum), of the grade of raw linseed oil for use in paint; and

JJJ-0-T31 "Oil; Linseed, Boiled"^ covering two types, kettle-boiled (0.937

minimum specific gravity) and quick process bulled ( 0.931 minimum specific

gravity,1 of the grade of boiled linseed oil for use in paints.

2 Federal Specification JJJ-O-336 limits the presence of "foots", by

volume, to a maximum of 1 percent for heated oil, and 4 percent for chilled

oil. As "foots" gradually settle, it is possible to draw off clear oil

meeting requirements of the specification.

i Iodine 'Fumber: "Oils, waxes and resins have the property of absorbing iodine. It has bepn found that the percentage of iodine absorbed is

fairly definite for each- type of material and this iodine number is used as a basis of specifying and identifying products of a given quality. It

also serves to indicate the capacity of drying oils to absorb oxygen from

the air and, in conjunction with other tests, to determine . the suitability

of such 0 H3 for use in paint and varnish products", Ray C. Martin, "American Paint Journal", July 6, 1936.

^May be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. 0

(Price 3 cents)

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