Current applications of foams formed from mixed surfactant-polymer solutions
journal contribution
posted on 2015-11-19, 15:01authored byA. Bureiko, Anna TrybalaAnna Trybala, Nina Kovalchuk, Victor Starov
Foams cannot be generated without the use of special foaming agents, as pure liquids do not foam. The most
common foaming agents are surfactants, however often for foam stability one active agent is not enough, it is
necessary to add other component to increase foam lifetime.
Foams on everyday use are mostly made from mixture of different components. Properly chosen combinations of
two active ingredients lead to a faster foam formation and increased foam stability.
During the last decade polymers (mainly polyelectrolytes and proteins) have become frequently used additives
to foaming solutions. Mixtures of surfactants and polymers often demonstrate different foaming properties in
comparison to surfactant only or polymer only solutions. The nature of surfactant–polymer interactions is complicated
and prediction of resulting foaming properties of such formulations is not straightforward. Properties
and foaming of surfactant–polymer mixtures are discussed as well as current applications of foams and foaming
agents as foams are widely used in cosmetics, pharmaceutics, medicine and the food industry.
Funding
This research was supported by Procter & Gamble; EU CoWet
Project; EP/J010596/1 EPSRC Project, UK; PASTA Project ESA and COST
MP1106.
History
School
Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering
Department
Chemical Engineering
Published in
ADVANCES IN COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
Volume
222
Pages
670 - 677 (8)
Citation
BUREIKO, A. ... et al., 2015. Current applications of foams formed from mixed surfactant-polymer solutions. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 222, pp. 670 - 677.
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/