In addition to its medical and hygienic effects, toothpaste should also ensure a pleasant sensation in the mouth during cleaning. Foam formation plays a key role for both purposes: it is important for the distribution and cleansing effect of the toothpaste and is generally perceived as pleasant – provided not too much foam is formed. So optimizing the foamability and consistency of the foam formed is an important step in the development of toothpaste recipes. Whereby the number of expensive and time-consuming test group studies can be reduced if foam formation is tested in advance using suitable measuring methods. Equally important for quality assurance during production are meaningful analyses.
Introduction
The detergency mechanism is based on the physico-chemical properties of the surfactant, the fat to eliminate and
the surface to clean. The spread of the soil on the surface is reduced by the wetting of the surface and the fat by the
surfactant (modification of the contact angles water/fat/surface). Hydrodynamic forces thereafter siphon off the fat
soil in the cleaning water and fraction it. This is the emulsification step. The oil droplets is eventually solubilized in
the water and eliminated.
ARD produces natural surfactants (alkyl polyglucosides) that are used for formulating home care products. Their
apolar part is coming from agro resources.
This study is dealing with the potential of natural surfactants to emulsify fat and it is done by measuring the interfacial
tension between water and oil and the stability of the emulsions formed using the Turbiscan™ technology.
