Production of Surface Shine (Polish)
Chapter One
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
The aim and objective of this project among other things include;
- Produce polish of high quality at minimum cost
- To produce shoe polish which will suit the weather of this country
- To reduce the depending on government for employment by having individual investment and becoming self reliant.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Proper maintenance and case of materials help in the preservation and good out look of such materials. Surface coating is not left out in the attainment of these goals. Products of the surface coaling industry are essential for the preservation of all structures from the attacks of weather.
The term polish is a substance used to give smoothness, surface protection or decoration to the surfaces of materials. This beauty enhancing product has waxes of different kinds as the base material. Other materials added to enhance the qualities of polish include, petroleum distillates as solvents, and colourants.
Shoe polish is a mixture of pigments that provide colour cum various oils and grease that make the leather soft and supple. These additives produce desired gloss outlook and equally give protective covering. As a result of the polish application, the useful lives of the leather products are reasonably prolonged. (George 1984)
HISTORY
The application of polish on leather products like shoes is an age old practice. Polish making is dated to centuries ago and has gone through series of modification. In the early days of polish production, the product was composed of inadequately articulated formulations. This involved the mixture of syrup or molasses and some amount of coloured pigment inaccurately combined, resulting to a polishing mixture.
In the course time, these crude formulations were perfected to give the present day improve polish. Corporations like CHISWICK and KIWI have played very important roles in the worlds polish industry. These cooperation’s’ entrance into the polish industry is dated to 1886 and 1900 respectively.
After many years of trial of processes, polish technology is fast assuming a wide dimension in the society. And its uses, application and formulation have captured the interest and imaginations of industrialist, scientists and engineers. In the year 1906, a man called William Ramsey had developed an industrially fine shoe polish to which he gave the brand name KIWI. The polish making process has passed through various stages of development of the present day practice which involve a careful integration of wax, pigments, varnishes and solvents. The resulting polish which is usually of paste, cream or fluid consistency is applied by brush, sprays and allowed to dry to provide the required gloss and smoothness on the surface to which they are used. (www.historyofpolishmaking.com)
SOME CLASSES OF SURFACE ENHANCING PRODUCTS
These include;
- Leather polish
- CAE wax
- French vanish etc.
LEATHER POLISH
This is the subject of this project. Leather polishes can come in different forms. The form could be a function of the surface to be polished and the degree of result one aims to achieve. It can be paste wax, cream wax or liquid polish dispensed aerosol, applicator pad, tins or even dispensable shoe wipes. In whatever form it may come, many shoe polishes use Dow corning silicones.
CHAPTER THREE
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Collection and preparation of raw materials
- Turpentine: During scouting, what was gotten was the oil of turpentine which is usually called simply as turpentine. It has a refractive index of 1.467 – 1.477 at 200c and wt/litre of 0.85 – 0.87g at 200C. Other properties include flash point of 350c and less than 0.5 non-volatile matters.
- Wax: Paraffin wax was the only type of wax purchased from Onitsha main market. The paraffin wax is a product of petroleum and is semi-hard with white colour.
- Paraffin oil: This was obtained from the market and acted as part of the solvent.
- Drier: The drier obtained was cobalt drier. This was used because of its property of fastening the drying rate of the polish after application.
- Dyes: These consisted of carbon black and brown oxide pigment.
- Vanish: This works in giving the polish a shinny out look when used on leather shoes.
TEST CARRIED ON THE WAX
Determination of melting point: 1g of the wax was heated in test tube with water bath. The temperature at which the wax melted was take using thermometer.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECDOMMENDATION
CONCLUSION
To nourish and protect the surfaces of leather shoes and other leather products and have their usefulness extended, the use of polish is desired. And for polish to be acceptable as being of good quality, it should therefore be of good gloss, water resistance, good rate of drying or curing, good denting or coverage, not be attracting dust and be adaptable to variation in temperature. Therefore, based on the results and accompanying tests carried out, it was found out that the polish was produced from the proper combination of waxes, solvents, binders and colour pigments. This is what this project has been able to achieve, even at a considerable cost of thirty six naira for 50ml container polish content.
RECOMMENDATION
The polish industry can be of immense help in the government palm for poverty alleviation as it will give employment to the army of unemployed youths.
But it is disheartening that there is few or no polish industry in the country. Equally, the importation of polish is a huge load on the economy. Against this back ground, the neglect of the industry should be reviewed. Government should encourage private investors to establish some polish industries the country.
Equally, the absence of standard on polish production in Nigeria is a cause for worry. This really affected the project. Therefore it is recommended that the standard organization of Nigeria publish standard on polish production in Nigeria.
Many of the raw materials for the production of polish such as Naphtha, carnauba wax etc. were not within reach. It is therefore recommended that research into finding locally available alternatives be embarked upon.
To make polish production a more profitable venture, large scale production should be encouraged.
Finally, in any product, safety of the users must be considered. There fore, the use of some cancernogenic additives in polish production should be reviewed; owing to their health dangers.
REFERENCES
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- Charles H.D etal, (1975) Introduction to organic chemistry, 2nd edition, John Willey and Sons, New York, Pp.227- 228.
- De Busy J.H. (1972), Encyclopedia of material and Technology vol.5, Longman group Limited, Armstallam, pp. 157-345.
- George T.A (1984), Shreves chemical process industries, 5th edition; Mc Graw hill book company, Singapore, P.424.
- Goodie J.H.(1997), Dictionary of painting and decorating, 2nd edition, Grifrfine Nand Company Limited, London, p.296.
- Kirk R.E et al. (1970), Encyclopedia of chemical Technology, 3rd edition. Vol.10, John Wiley and Sons Inc., New York: pp.899 -905
- Malhloutli M. (1985), Food packaging and preservation, Theory and practice, Elsewer Applied science publishers Limited, Beckley England, p.383.
- Morrison R.T, (1973), organic chemistry, 3rd Edition. Allyn & Bacon Inc. Boston, P. 347.
