Abstract
AbstractThe colloidal stability of an oil‐in‐water emulsion can be correlated with the well‐known behaviour of the hydrophobic sols of solid particles if the rate of coagulation is expressed in terms of a decrease in particle concentration.Coagulation of an emulsion occurs in two stages, called flocculation and coalescence. Flocculation is assumed to occur according to the second order reaction process applied by Von Smoluchowski to the similar phenomenon in the hydrophobic sols of solid particles. Coalescence is a first order reaction and will only occur between adjacent drops in an aggregate.An equation is derived in which the particle concentration is expressed as a function of both the rate of flocculation and the rate of coalescence, and the time of coagulation. The rate of coagulation appears to depend upon the particle concentration, in such a way that the rate of increase of 1/n increases with decreasing initial particle concentration. Approximations are given which may be applied to cases of practical importance.
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