Tripropylene Glycol Methyl Ether or Glycol TPM, is a solvent that is often utilized in the production of various types of inks including stamp pads, ballpoint pens, and felt-tip pens.

Why Glycol TPM?

Glycol TPM is not the only substance that makes a difference in the ink making process.

Glycol DPM also plays a significant role in creating the ink pens that we all know, love, and use everyday.

However, Glycol DPM–or Dipropylene Glycol Methyl Ether–has a less direct part in the ink making process than Glycol TPM.

Glycol TPM evaporates more slowly than Glycol DPM.

This quality makes Glycol TPM better suited as the primary solvent used in ink making, and Glycol DPM ideal as a tail-solvent for stamp pads, ball-point pens, felt tip pens, and various types of printing inks among a wide range of other applications.

How Does It Work?

As a solvent, Glycol TPM is highly soluble and has a low evaporation rate.

These qualities mean that Tripropylene Glycol Methyl Ether mixes extremely well with other substances, and that it is a key component for companies that seek to manufacture long-lasting, and slow-drying pens.

Glycol TPM also has a lower viscosity than other substances.

Less viscous chemicals are best for ink production, as their purpose is to mix with other raw materials and create a smooth and flowing ink.

The more viscous a material is, the thicker it will be, and that is inefficient for ink pen production.

Glycol TPM is not harmful in pen ink, printer ink, or stamp pads, as it is simply a component of the ink used to ensure that your product has the longest use possible.

Manufacturing

The ink manufacturing process transforms Glycol TPM and other similar chemicals from their natural state into a mixture of other raw materials and dyes.

• Glycol TPM is a part of a company’s ink formula that is mixed into a batch of other chemicals and combined with dyes in order to create the formula that will go into the pen’s ink reservoir.
• The chemicals are mixed in a large batch located in a designated area of the manufacturing plant.
• The batch of materials are mixed at hot or cold temperatures depending on the specific formula that an individual company will follow.
• The parts of the pen are formed by compressing metal into molds.
• Once the individual parts of the pen are created, the body of the pen is attached to the ink reservoir.
• Finally, one of many new pens featuring the slow-drying ink produced best by Glycol TPM is born.

Shop Glycol TPM here, or call (800)-563-1305 if you have any questions.

 

MEK and Heptane in Healthcare

Methyl Ethyl Ketone and Heptane are both solvents that are used most often in industrial manufacturing and cleaning respectively.

Shared Applications

MEK and Heptane have several shared applications.

They are both found in adhesives, glues, paint coatings, and paint additives.

Medical Applications

Methyl Ethyl Ketone and Heptane also share another non-industrial application.

MEK and Heptane are both common ingredients in anesthetics used in most hospitals.

Anesthesia typically utilizes volatile compounds like MEK and Heptane that are strong enough to numb the body and induce temporary unconsciousness.

How It Works

Chemicals that act as anesthetics are meant to temporarily yield incapacitation and amnesia so that the patient both won’t feel the pain or discomfort of the procedure and will have little to no recollection of it.

The anesthetics that MEK and Heptane are a part of are typically in general anesthetics that amnesia and does not simply block pain signals like local anesthesia does.

General anesthesia works by targeting proteins in the membranes around nerve cells to numb pain receptors.

Inhaled anesthetics or general anesthetics affect different nerves than intravenous anesthetics, and inhaled anesthetics likely target nerves that commit pain to memory or send pain directly to the brain.

MEK is most likely utilized in anesthetics, because it is derived from ether. Ether helped to create the earliest forms of anesthesia.

The volatile liquids are inhaled in gaseous form through a machine that is able to measure an accurate dose for the patient to have a safe and pain-free surgery.

General anesthesia is most often used when surgery is being done on internal organs or other time-consuming and invasive procedures.

General anesthesia can be thought of as a medically induced coma, because essentially this is its function.

MEK and Heptane have many applications, but their role in anesthesia is the rare application that they share, and possibly the most important.

Other Applications

MEK and Heptane have many other useful applications.

MEK is used in the manufacturing of plastics, textiles and paraffin wax.

It is an industrial solvent that is also utilized to produce lacquer, lacquer thinners, paint remover, denatured alcohol, glues, and dry-erase markers.

Methyl Ethyl Ketone is commonly used as a cleaning agent.

MEK can also be found in powder coatings in the automobile and electronics industries.

Heptane is found in paint and coating additives, adhesives, sealants, chemical intermediates, outdoor stove fuel, rubber cement, and various inks.

Heptane can be utilized to extract oil from vegetables and is commonly found in gasoline.

Pure Heptane is not used for vegetable oil extraction, but rather a mixture of isomers that comprises commercial grade Heptane.

Heptane’s role in gasoline is due to the fact that it is derived from petroleum.

Heptane is also commonly used as a laboratory solvent and reagent.

If you would like to purchase MEK or Heptane, please call (800)-563-1305 or visit our Shop our Commodity Chemicals Online Here.