Abstract
The effect of steric interactions on the stability of oil-in-water emulsions is studied here by means of emulsion stability simulations (ESS). For this purpose, a new steric potential based on a modification of the one formerly proposed by Vincent et. al. [Colloids Surf. 18 (1986) 261] is employed. The parameters of the calculation correspond to hexadecane in water emulsions stabilized with nonylphenol ethoxylated surfactants of different chain lengths (NPE m). Stability ratios ( W) were calculated using the half life time of the number of drops per unit volume of these systems. A functional relationship between W and the repulsive potential barrier, (Δ V), similar to the one previously found by Prieve and Ruckenstein for electrostatically stabilized suspensions [J. Colloid Interface Sci. 73 (1980) 539] was obtained. However, according to our simulations there exists a threshold for the stability of emulsions with respect to coalescence which is approximately located around 12.7 k B T .
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