Originally Posted by
redlude97
I've never seen the residual wax on the outside of the chain melt regardles of outside temps, but as hypothesized above, likely at least some is melting and resolidfying at the pin/plate interface as it bends around the chainring and cogs. Still not likely to cause any significant migration of contaminants I would guess.
I'm just pointing out that wax probably acts a lot like grease does releasing oil in the areas of highest friction - down inside the pins - and that likely means that it gets redistributed and pushes out contaminants to an extent that something constantly solid would not.
One of the reasons wax is such a low friction lubricant is because it is very low viscosity when melted - probably much lower viscosity than 5W-30 would be at 100°C. It only needs to "flash melt" to liquid when needed. Melting points and viscosity aren't related.
I am not a chemist.