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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Mechanism of formation of oil-in-water microemulsions

Book ·
OSTI ID:5591681

This study was undertaken to help elucidate the nature of transparent, stable mixtures of oil and water plus 2 surfactants. The objective was to determine whether these transparent dispersions are thermodynamically stable or metastable systems and how to differentiate between the 2 types of dispersions. Two series of microemulsions were prepared and studied by various techniques. Although thermodynamically stable micellar dispersions may exist, it was concluded that most of the dispersions prepared were metastable transparent emulsions which could be stable and transparent for long periods of time. A mechanism for the formation of oil-in-water microemulsions containing oil/water/soap short chain alcohol for the metastable systems was proposed.

OSTI ID:
5591681
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English