Apparent equilibration time required for surfactant-oil-water systems to emulsify into the morphology imposed by the formulation. Part 2: Effect of sec-butanol concentration and initial location.
Winsor type I equilibrated surfactant-oil-water (SOW) systems produce o/w emulsions upon stirring. However, if the surfactant is initially dissolved in the oil phase, the attained type after inmediate emulsification is usually w/o. If the SOW system is partially equilibrated, it could result in a normal o/w emulsion, as if it were fully equilibrated. The minimum contact time for that to happen, the so-called apparent equilibration time tAPE, was previously shown (Langmuir 2002, 18, 607) to strongly depend on formulation, surfactant molecular weight, and oil viscosity. The present report shows that it depends on alcohol concentration and location in the unequilibrated system.
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