The Microstructure and Rheology of Complex Fluids Containing Na-caseinate

<p>Emulsions are widely utilised in commercial environments, such as in the food and cosmetic industries. In their simplest form, emulsions are a system consisting of two immiscible liquids in the presence of emulsifiers. To form an emulsion, an input of energy is required. In this thesis, Na-caseinate was used as the emulsifier and three systems were studied: soybean oil/Na-caseinate/water, palm oil/Na-caseinate/water and tetradecane/Nacaseinate/ water. Four main techniques were used to characterise the stabilised emulsions: laser diffraction particle sizing, PGSTE-NMR, rheology and cryo-SEM. Emulsion systems are extremely complex making control and predictability over their phase behaviour practically difficult. This is because the required overall characteristics of these colloids are strongly dependent on both the energy of formulation and the choice of an appropriate combination of emulsifier, dispersed phase and continuous phase. A full understanding of the microstructure, stability and physicochemical properties of caseinatestabilised emulsions has as yet not been achieved. For example, how does caseinate selfassembly control emulsion stability? How do concentrated caseinate-based emulsions differ from dilute ones and how do the different oils (food grade oils vs. straight chain hydrocarbon) affect the formation of emulsions? The aim of this PhD programme was to obtain data to allow a better fundamental understanding of the underlying parameters defining emulsion behaviour to be obtained ...</p>

The Microstructure and Rheology of Complex Fluids Containing Na-caseinate

<p>Emulsions are widely utilised in commercial environments, such as in the food and cosmetic industries. In their simplest form, emulsions are a system consisting of two immiscible liquids in the presence of emulsifiers. To form an emulsion, an input of energy is required. In this thesis, Na-caseinate was used as the emulsifier and three systems were studied: soybean oil/Na-caseinate/water, palm oil/Na-caseinate/water and tetradecane/Nacaseinate/ water. Four main techniques were used to characterise the stabilised emulsions: laser diffraction particle sizing, PGSTE-NMR, rheology and cryo-SEM. Emulsion systems are extremely complex making control and predictability over their phase behaviour practically difficult. This is because the required overall characteristics of these colloids are strongly dependent on both the energy of formulation and the choice of an appropriate combination of emulsifier, dispersed phase and continuous phase. A full understanding of the microstructure, stability and physicochemical properties of caseinatestabilised emulsions has as yet not been achieved. For example, how does caseinate selfassembly control emulsion stability? How do concentrated caseinate-based emulsions differ from dilute ones and how do the different oils (food grade oils vs. straight chain hydrocarbon) affect the formation of emulsions? The aim of this PhD programme was to obtain data to allow a better fundamental understanding of the underlying parameters defining emulsion behaviour to be obtained ...</p>

Examining the Decomposition of Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate Copolymers Using TG/GC/IR

With a combination of information from TG/IR and GC/IR measurements of the trapped gases, characterization of complex polymer decompositions can be made. In this paper, the thermally induced breakdown of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymers was studied. Results show that EVA undergoes a two-step decomposition: an acetate pyrolysis of the copolymer leaving a polyunsaturated linear hydrocarbon, followed by the breakdown of the hydrocarbon backbone to produce a large number of straight-chain hydrocarbon products.

Examination of the Matrix Isolation Fourier Transform Infrared Spectra of Organic Compounds: Part II

Matrix-isolated (MI) Fourier transform infrared spectra have been collected on a series of aliphatic ketones. The values for the carbonyl absorptions maxima are intermediate between vapor-phase (VP) and solid-state solution (SS) phases. The data reveal a stereochemical influence on the position of the ketone carbonyl absorption when the carbons that are in the alpha position with respect to the carbonyl group contain alkyl snbstituents vs. protons. Steric bulk causes the frequency of the absorption to decrease. The position of the ketone carbonyl absorption was also shown to decrease as the carbonyl group migrated toward the center of a long straight-chain hydrocarbon backbone. Stereochemical influences due to ring strain were also documented. Unsaturation, located in the alpha position with respect to the carbonyl, was shown to reduce the absorption frequency. The trends found in this MI study are comparable to those previously documented from VP and SS studies. In two cases wherein very bulky substituents were located in the alpha position with respect to the carbonyl, a splitting of the carbonyl absorption was observed. Studies are underway to test for a general trend in and to uncover an explanation for this phenomenon.