Effect of interdroplet interaction on elasticity of highly concentrated emulsions

Abstract

We present a model for osmotic pressure and shear modulus of highly concentrated emulsions by including the interdroplet interaction in terms of disjoining pressure. The results show that even a small addition in interdroplet interaction can lead to significant deviations from the classical Princen-Lacasse-Mason models that take into account only the surface energy as the sole source of elasticity. The newly proposed model predicts new effects, in particular the possibility of nonlinear dependency of elastic modulus on the droplet size, and can be used to discuss the elasticity sources of highly concentrated emulsions. In the second part of this article, the unusual elasticity of highly concentrated explosive emulsions is discussed by using the proposed model.