Studying the effect of the Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance (HLB) number of the surfactant on flow induced phase inversion emulsification

Abstract

This paper studied preparation of polymeric emulsions by flow induced phase inversion emulsification of (ethylene-vinyl acetate) copolymer using seven surfactants with different numbers of the Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance (HLB) at constant conditions of temperature, mixing speed, concentration of surfactant and molecular weight. The emulsification process was carried out using a twin screw brabender at melting temperature of the polymer. One phase inversion was found for all prepared emulsions. When HLB number increased, the particle size was so increased too. But the emulsification time wasn’t affected i.e. the increasing of HLB number has no significant effect on the emulsification time.