MORPHOLOGIES OF EMULSIONS OF CONJUGATE PHASE PAIRS OF AMPHIPHILE OIL-WATER MICROEMULSION TIE TRIANGLES

Electrical conductivity measurements were made on emulsions formed, respectively, from the conjugate top-middle, top-bottom, and middle-bottom phase pairs that define the three sides of various nonionic amphiphile/oil/water "microemulsion" tie triangles. Effective-medium conductivity models and observations of creaming behavior were used to substantiate assignments of steady-state emulsion morphologies. The phase volume fractions at which morphology changes occurred were measured for both directions along each tie line, and the hysteresis was obtained as the difference between the volume fractions for the two directions. The results support the dispersion morphology diagram previously postulated, including the formation of mixtures of emulsions whose morphologies are the inverse of each other.