Detachment of adhered colloidal particles by non-aqueous surfactant solutions

Abstract

A powder-bed procedure has been developed to investigate the adhesion of colloidal particles to a solid surface and their subsequent removal by a non-aqueous surfactant solution. Results for the system carbon black/metal surface/polymeric surfactant in hydrocarbon solution show that considerable detachment of such solid particulate “dirt” in non-aqueous media can occur, with minimum hydrodynamic displacement action. An explanation of the experimental results is postulated in terms of the “secondary minimum” adhesion concept and an entropic repulsion mechanism of polymeric detergent action.