Size distribution in emulsions

Abstract

Emulsions are generally opaque and scatter light widely. This characteristic is a considerable obstacle to the use of optical techniques such as dynamic light scattering and optical microscopy. However, the optical appearance of a sample is totally irrelevant for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. In this paper we use general methods to calculate the size distribution of a collection of droplets in dilute emulsion systems using NMR pulse gradient spin-echo measurements. We show that such methods are also successful in describing a bimodal distribution of droplets. © Springer-Verlag 1999.