Experimental study of interfacial phase transitions in three-component surfactant systems
Journal
Physical Review A
Journal Volume
42
Journal Issue
8
Pages
4716-4723
Date Issued
1990
Author(s)
Abstract
In a three-phase equilibrium system, the middle phase either wets or does not wet the interface between the upper and lower phases. In this work, we perform a systematic experimental search for wetting transitions between wetting and nonwetting regimes in three-component water n-alkane CiEj systems, where CiEj denotes the surfactant polyoxyethylene alcohol CiH2i+1(OC2H4)jOH. It is found that the water n-hexadecane C6E2 and water n-octadecane C6E2 systems exhibit a wetting transition lying at least 10°C below the upper critical temperature, and one system, water n-tetradecane C6E2, exhibits a wetting transition lying 4.3°C below the upper critical temperature. Measurements of the contact angles as a function of temperature indicate that the wetting transition is of first order. © 1990 The American Physical Society.
SDGs
Type
journal article