Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Formulating Gel at low pH

  • markbroussard

    Member
    December 4, 2017 at 11:51 am

    @mamun:

    Yes, use Lubrizol Carbopol Ultrez-30 … it gels at low pH 4.0 to 5.5

  • Mamun

    Member
    December 4, 2017 at 12:00 pm

    Great! thank you so much! is Lubrizol Carbopol Ultrez-30 compatible with electrolytes?

  • das

    Member
    December 4, 2017 at 4:59 pm

    I think the new smart line may fit your needs
    https://www.lubrizol.com/Personal-Care/Carbopol-SMART

  • drbobverdient-biz

    Member
    December 5, 2017 at 12:13 am

    I would try the Ultrez 30 first as very easy to use with good electrolyte tolerance.If you have a problem due to electrolyte stability tryCarbopol SF 1.

  • Mamun

    Member
    December 5, 2017 at 4:24 am

    thank u, Bob! :)

  • Chemist5000

    Member
    December 6, 2017 at 1:09 am

    you can also try sepimax zen from seppic

  • doreen

    Member
    January 3, 2018 at 3:09 pm

    @MarkBroussard
    @DRBOB@VERDIENT.BIZ
    About the low pH carbomers:
    As soon as I put the phases together, the polymer is already unraveling: can I still use high shear to mix the emulsion? (I disperse carbomers in the heated oil phase btw).

    I have asked Lubrizol about a polymer with high electrolyte tolerance and they suggested ETD 2020, which I have right now.
    I wanted a carbomer that can withstand 2% of an approx. 49% sodium phytate solution (Dermofeel Enlight). 
    I also have bought Sepimax Zen but haven’t worked with it yet.
    Is Zen’s tolerance higher than 2020?

  • markbroussard

    Member
    January 3, 2018 at 7:50 pm

    @doreen81:

    You should disperse the Carbomer in the water phase, not the oil phase, so it can hydrolyze.  Best you homogenize, then neutralize the emulsion to form the carbomer gel.

  • doreen

    Member
    January 5, 2018 at 11:31 am

    @MarkBroussard
    What I meant was (despite in which phase it is dispersed, water or oil) if the emulsion before neutralizing has a pH of about 5 and if the type of carbomer has high viscosity at lower pH’s: it will start unraveling before it is neutralized. Polymers are sensitive to high shear when fully unraveled, so I hope I don’t damage the strucure when I still need to homogenize and neutralize, but the polymer has already unraveled because of it being viscous at low pH?
    Thát was my concern. The few times I’ve worked with low pH carbomers, I’ve used low shear to avoid an irreversible viscosity drop due to structural damage. But I wonder if there are other/better ways to deal with it.

  • davidw

    Member
    January 11, 2018 at 3:50 am

    You can also try Carbopol Aqua SF-1 or SF-2.  They will allow for low pH

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