Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating HEC thick layer separating

  • HEC thick layer separating

    Posted by gunther on December 27, 2018 at 6:36 pm

    HEC was able to thicken bare water, but when attempting to thicken a CAPB + decyl glucoside formulation a thick layer sinks to the bottom, leaving a thin, liquid layer on top.

    deionized water 50 vol%
    Hydroxyethyl cellulose 2 wt%
    it got much thicker a couple hours later

    added a tiny amount of dilute NaOH
    stir
    some entrapped bubbles from stirring, but same viscosity remains.

    water q.s. to 100% (about 50 vol%)
    if becomes less viscous, with some bubbles

    Now the total volume is 150% of the original one
    Dehyton-K to 7% active CAPB
    Generic Decyl glucoside to 3% active Decyl glucoside

    citric acid qs to pH 6

    stir

    The solution never thickens while stirring
    if allowed to rest, a viscous layer sinks to the bottom, while a water thin layer remains on top.
    How to solve this?

    em88 replied 5 years, 2 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
  • 1 Reply
  • em88

    Member
    January 7, 2019 at 11:10 am

    I have said this around here 🙂 HEC has incompatibilities with some surfactants. I learned it the hard way myself 
    I simply removed HEC and solved the viscosity with NaCl. You may try HPMC instead. 

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