The effect of the concentration of the water-soluble component, on the rheology of some oil-in-water emulsions containing long-chain alcohols

The effect of the concentration of two non-ionic water-soluble components—Sorbester Q12 (polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate) and cetomacrogol 1000—and two ionic water-soluble components—cetrimide and sodium lauryl sulphate—on the rheology of some emulsions has been examined. Emulsions containing oleyl and lauryl alcohol exhibited an increase in consistency with increasing surfactant content. Maximum values for static yield value and apparent viscosity were found to occur with cetostearyl alcohol as the oil-soluble component. The values of the rheological parameters for products containing ionic surfactants tended to be higher than for non-ionics, but molal plots (and preliminary studies with Texofor N4, Texofor FX170 and Solumin FX170SD) suggested that this was an effect due to molecular weight rather than charge.