Surfactants and Polymers in Aqueous Solution

Overview

This two-day intensive course will cover the fundamentals of interaction between surfactants and polymers in aqueous systems of particular relevance in formulating paints, industrial coatings, inks, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical and domestic cleaning products.

Audience

This course is aimed at lab technicians and scientists conducting research in the areas of surface chemistry and surfactant formulation in industry who want to understand the fundamentals of surfactant-polymers systems, learn the latest developments in how surfactant-polymers systems are formulated and employed, and improve the ability to advance their own scientific work.

Content

Many industrial formulations such as detergents, paints, foodstuff and cosmetics contain both surfactants and polymers, and their interactions govern many of the properties. This course is unique in that it discusses the solution chemistry of both surfactants and polymers as well as the interactions between the two, providing both theoretical insights and practical help for those active in the area.

Topics covered:

• Surfactant types and their main routes of preparation
• Novel surfactants
• Physicochemical phenomena such as self-assembly in solution, adsorption, gel formation and foaming
• Solution behavior of surfactants and polymers containing polyoxyethylene chains
• Surface active polymers and their interaction with surfactants
• Protein-surfactant interactions
• Micro-emulsions and several important applications, such as detergency and their use as media for chemical reactions
• Emulsions and the choice of emulsifier
• Rheology and wetting