What is Xylene?
Many of us would know the smell of a marker anywhere – it’s that strong and familiar sweet aroma that reminds you of paint or even varnish. That signature odour is actually caused by a colorless liquid called Xylene which is used as a solvent in some pens and markers. The solvent helps the ink flow from the barrel to the page, and evaporates after it is exposed to the open air. What you may not have noticed is that Artline has stopped using Xylene in most of its products and has substituted the traditional solvent with an alcohol. The only obvious difference is the smell – whereas Xylene has a sweet aroma, the alcohol has a more neutral odour. The reason behind Artline’s move away from using Xylene as a solvent is because of a concern amongst some community members that the product could cause negative health effects. In 1996 the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found that if a person were to be exposed to a high level of Xylene (such as in a paint factory) there w
Related Questions
- I am interested in the possibility adding of iodine to the first xylene, in a staining machine. What is the percentage or recipe for that solution, and will it corrode metal parts?
- What causes the xylene (or xylene substitute) dehydration solutions to turn cloudy when a slide from the previous alcohol dish is moved forward into the xylene dish?
- How are emissions of xylene (mixed isomers) and emissions of individual xylene isomers (m-xylene, o-xylene, p-xylene) to be reported under O.Reg.127/01?
