Emulsion Inversion in the PIT Range: Quantitative Phase Variations in a Two-Phase Emulsion

The phase-inversion temperature (PIT) phenomenon is for the first time given l quantitative treatment for systems having a sufficiently small surfactant content to be limited to two phases at the PIT. The results show that the early opinion of a phase transfer of the surfactant as the major event in the transversal of the temperature range is not entirely correct; the major phenomenon is instead an expulsion of water from the low-temperature aqueous micellar solution. In addition, the results unexpectedly give an indication of the existence of three phases at temperatures beneath the PIT, in spite of the the fact that system consists of only two phases at the actual PIT.