In industrial uses, it is often useful to modify the crystal properties of the paraffin wax, typically by adding branching to the existing carbon backbone chain. The modification is usually done with additives, such as EVA copolymers, microcrystalline wax, or forms of polyethylene. The branched properties result in a modified paraffin with a higher viscosity, smaller crystalline structure, and modified functional properties.

For casting of metal and other materials, "investment casting waxes" are used, in which the paraffin wax is combined with several other materials to obtain the desired properties. Paraffin wax is not much used to make original models for casting, as it is relatively brittle at room temperature and usually cannot be cold-carved without excessive chipping and breaking. Soft, pliable waxes such as beeswax are preferred for these purposes. Paraffin wax (C25H52) is an excellent material to store heat, and has a typical heat capacity of 2500 J/(kg K) to 2800 J/(kg K) and a heat of fusion of 200 kJ/kg to 220 kJ/kg.

Application of 1 nm gold probes on paraffin wax. An in situ hybridisation technique that uses 1 nm immunogold reagents and silver enhancement was devised to detect biotinylated DNA viral probes in formalin fixed, paraffin wax sections of human cervix. DNA probes labelled with biotin-11-deoxyuridine triphosphate were detected after hybridisation to nucleic acid sequences by an antibiotin antibody, followed by a gold labelled secondary antibody.

Silver enhancement then permitted visualisation of the signal at the light microscopic level. The method was reliable and produced less background staining than previously described methods. The signal could be enhanced by epi polarisation microscopy. Furthermore, biotinylated DNA probes may be detected directly by a 1 nm gold labelled goat antibiotin antibody without loss of labelling intensity, and this may be preferable to the longer two layer technique, previously described.