Emulsions: Structure, Stability and Interactions

Dimiter N. Petsev

• Editorial: Academic Press
• Año: 2004
• ISBN:
  9780080472652
• Categoría: Scienze fisiche
• Categoría: Chimica fisica e teoretica

Emulsions: Structure, Stability and Interactions is the perfect handbook for scientists looking to obtain up-to-date knowledge about the fundamentals of emulsion science, and those looking to familiarize themselves with the subject in greater detail.

As a 'stand-alone' source of information, it is also ideal for solving the practical issues encountered daily in the field of emulsion science.

While each chapter presents a concise review on a specific topic, the book offers a consistent presentation of the important physical concepts relevant to emulsions. Some of the topics covered include statistical mechanics of fluid interfaces, the structure of fluid interfaces determined by neutron scattering, hydrodynamic interactions and stability of emulsion films, theory of emulsion flocculation, coalescence kinetics of Brownian emulsions, and Brownian dynamics simulation of emulsion stability.

• Full and comprehensive presentations
• Rigorous approach to each topic, providing in-depth information
• Acts as a 'stand-alone' source of information

Chapter 1

Statistical mechanics of fluid interfaces

Vicente Talanquer Department of Chemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA

1 INTRODUCTION

Much of our current understandings of the properties and structural features of fluid interfaces can be traced back to the original ideas of Laplace and van der Waals, whose theories continue to have relevance and application today [1,2]. However, the last fifty years have brought remarkable developments in the application of theoretical techniques of statistical mechanics to a wide variety of inhomogeneous systems [3,4]. Most of these theoretical approaches can be used, not only to study free fluid interfaces in which molecular interactions are the source of inhomogeneities in the particle’s distribution, but also to describe the properties of a wider set of systems including liquids near solid substrates and confined fluids in which inhomogeneities arise due to the presence of an external field. The current theories have thus been applied profitably to the study of both diverse systems, from simple fluids to colloids and microemulsions, as well as different phenomena, from phase separations to wetting transitions.

The foundation of the modem treatment of interfaces relies on two interrelated theoretical approaches [5]. The first is based on the development of equations to calculate the distribution or correlation functions for particles in a fluid from a given intermolecular potential. The integral equation theories focus on the calculation of such functions based on a hierarchy of integrodifferential equations that directly involves the int...