El Fenomeno de Maduracion de Ostwald. Predicciones de las Simulaciones de Estabilidad de Emulsiones sobre la Evolucion del Radio Cubico Promedio de una Dispersion de Aceite en Agua

In this chapter, the theory of Lifshitz, Slesov and Wagner and the technique of Emulsion Stability Simulations (ESS) are reviewed. Complementary algorithms required to incorporate the phenomenon of Ostwald ripening in ESS are presented. The simulations are used to study the behavior of dodecane-in-water nanoemulsions as a function of time. The influence of electrostatic interactions, hydration forces, the initial drop size distributions, and the deformability of the drops, are studied. In particular, the behavior of the cube average radius of the dispersion and the variation of the drop size distribution a few minutes after the preparation of the emulsion are described.