\▐blüm\ n [ME blome, fr. ON blōm; akin to OE blōwan to blossom] (13c) A haziness which develops on high gloss surfaces resulting in scattering of the surface reflectance. One mechanism is by exudation of a component such as a plasticizer out of the paint film. See Blush. (2) Undesirable deposit which sometimes forms on a glossy coating, resulting in whitening or loss of gloss. (3) Similar to bleeding in that it is migration of liquids or solids to the surface of a rubber compound to cause a change of appearance in color or cloudiness at the surface. Waxes used in excess of their solubility point in rubber come to the surface as a wax bloom, as does sulfur that remains as an excess over the amount actually chemically combined with the rubber. (4) Undesirable exudation of pentachlorophenol on the surface of wood that has been treated with a preservative solution. (5) In the plastics industry, bloom is a visible exudation on the surface of a plastic, generally caused by lubricant,...
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Gooch, J.W. (2011). Bloom. In: Gooch, J.W. (eds) Encyclopedic Dictionary of Polymers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6247-8_1421
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