Comparative Analysis of the Properties of Tween‐20, Tween‐60, Tween‐80, Arlacel‐60, and Arlacel‐80

Foamability and foam stability, emulsifying power, surface tension, and interfacial tension were investigated for Tween‐20 (polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate), Tween‐60 (polyoxyethylene sorbitan monostearate), Tween‐80 (polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate), Arlacel‐60 (Sorbitan stearate), and Arlacel‐80 (Sorbitan oleate). Among all the surfactants tested for their foaming power and foamabilty, Arlacel‐60 and Arlacel‐80 showed the best results; the foaming power and foamability was found to be 100%. The surfactants having foam stability more than 50% can be considered as metastable and those less than 50% are considered as low‐stability foams. In case of surface tension and interfacial tension property measurements, Arlacel‐80 showed the best results. At 1% surfactant concentration, the surface tension and interfacial tension of Arlacel‐80 was found to be 29.9 dynes/cm and 1.1 dynes/cm at 30°C ambient temperature. Also, Arlacel‐60 was found to exhibit the best emulsifying power among all the surfactants tested. At 30°C, the emulsifying property of Arlacel‐60 was 6 hours. Keywords: Surfactantsfoaming powerfoamabilityemulsifying powersurface tensioninterfacial tension Notes This work was supported by ICI Surfactants (India) Ltd. by providing the gift samples of surfactants for research work.