VISCOELASTIC PROPERTIES OF GEL-EMULSIONS - THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH STRUCTURE AND EQUILIBRIUM PROPERTIES

Water-in-oil (w/o) highly concentrated emulsions form in ternary water /nonionic surfactant/hydrocarbon systems whose rheological behavior ha s been investigated using oscillatory measurements. The affects of tem perature, volume fraction, oil-to-surfactant ratio, and brine salinity on the rheological properties have been studied. The shear moduli (Go ) and relaxation times (theta0) have been determined using a Maxwell m odel for a viscoelastic liquid. The shear moduli are a function of gam ma (interfacial tension), phi (volume fraction), and R32 (Sauter mean droplet radius). The relaxation times are proportional to eta (continu ous-phase viscosity) and inversely proportional to G0 and 1 - phi (con tinuous-phase volume fraction). The elastic component is related to th e structure of the emulsions and the viscous element to the continuous -phase viscosity.