Influence of different oil types on the rheological behaviour of nonionic oil -in- water microemulsion

ABSTRACT

Microemulsions were formed at very low oil concentration in the ternary systems. These solutions are optically isotropic with low viscosity. The rheological behaviours of microemulsion of glucopone-water-hydrocarbon systems were investigated. Four different types of hydrocarbon namely heptane, octane, dodecane and tetradecane were considered. The frequency dependent storage and loss modulus were investigated below the critical strain. The critical strain is decreased as the alkane chain lengths increased. The zero shear viscosity was found to increase when longer hydrocarbon chain lengths were considered. However, when surfactant concentrations were further increased, the value of the zero shear viscosity appeared to be going down as the alkane chain length was increased. The discrepancy between the elastic and loss modulus in heptane and octane systems was higher than that corresponds to dodecane and tetradecane systems. The complex viscosity increased as alkane chain lengths of the hydrocarbon increase. In general, the effects of different types of hydrocarbon in the rheological behaviours were found to be more profound in the heptane and octane systems than in the dodecane and tetradecane systems