Interfacial Phenomena BT - Food Physics: Physical Properties — Measurement and Applications

Abstract

Interfacial phenomena are behaviors that occur at the interface or boundary surface between a suspended particle and the continuous phase material in which it is suspended. For this reason, interfacial phenomena are almost always associated with disperse systems. Recall from Chapter 3 that disperse systems consist of discrete particle phases surrounded by a continuous phase medium. The particles can be in the solid, liquid or gaseous phase; and the continuous phase medium can also be solid, liquid or gas. Thus, disperse systems can exist in any one of nine different combinations of particle phase and continuous phase. Some examples of cases where interfaces can be formed are given in Table 5.1.