Ternary Phase Diagrams in Surfactant Science

Abstract

Phase equilibria in ternary systems ionic surfactant—long chain alcohol—water are discussed in relation to Per Ekwall's pioneering contributions to the field. It is described how modeling of the thermodynamic behavior leads to a better understanding of what molecular interactions cause the rich phase behavior of these systems.

Keywords:

• Thermodynamics
• Gibbs phase rule
• ternary phase diagrams
• phase behavior