Emulsifiers 201
The September edition of TLT is now available to all STLE members. Let's take a second to remind all of you metalworking fluid managers out there that STLE is the organization you need to look into joining. It's the single organization most responsible for proving formal education opportunities to the metalworking fluid community. TLT is their very slick monthly publication that usually has something worth reading about metalworking fluids. This month's article is about emulsifiers - those special molecules that let us mix oil and water. Called "soaps" in the olden days I believe. This article builds on last years TLT article: Emulsifiers 101. The properties of emulsions and emulsifiers and be measured, and they are indicative of coolant performance. This article introduces you to surface interfacial tension, the crticla micelle concentration, the formulation contact angle (Engineer will remember this one from Fluid mechanics) and more. An excellent article for the metalworking fluid professional!