O/W Silicone Emulsion troubleshooting

Formulating

O/W Silicone Emulsion troubleshooting

Posted by manstra on June 11, 2016 at 6:25 pm

Hello everyone in the community and first of all I want to apologise for being absent for so long. I have a problem in emulsifing the following hair anti-freeze, light and shine formula,

Water q.s.
Polyquaternium 7 0,5%
Polyquaternium 10 0,1%

Cyclopentosiloxane 2%
Dimethicone 0,2%
PEG - 12 Dimethicone 2%

Caprylic Capric Glycerides 0,5%
DEX Panthenol 75% 2,25%
Fragrance 0,5%
PEG - 40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil 2,5%
Vitamin E acetate 0,1%

I add the silicone mix in the second phase

I have the following instability in a silverson mixer AX-1 at 2,500rpm

There is a white phase on the top ( I assume the destabilized silicone mix that I add in the cooling phase) and a cloudy water phase on the bottom.

Are the emulsifiers that I use the suitable ones or do i need a different emulsification process / different emulsification materials.

Thank you in advance

Chemist77 replied 8 years, 1 month ago 5 Members · 10 Replies
10 Replies

belassi

Member
June 11, 2016 at 6:33 pm

Are the emulsifiers that I use the suitable ones or do i need a different emulsification process / different emulsification materials.

I can’t see that being an adequate system as you have discovered. HLB value is very high at 15. Try adding a low HLB emulsifer, I suggest adding 2% glycerine monostearate and 1% cetearyl alcohol. Hot process of course.
manstra

Member
June 12, 2016 at 12:08 am

I think cetearyl alcohol would thicken the emulsion
belassi

Member
June 12, 2016 at 12:56 am

well, in that case, omit the PEG-12 Dimethicone and use a water-dispersible silicone instead at a smaller percentage, say 0.5%
I have a problem understanding the terms “antifreeze, light and shine”
manstra

Member
June 12, 2016 at 1:02 am

Anti freeze means flexible and easy to comb hair, light is a texture aspect of the hair (how it feels when toughing it) and shine means to reflect the light, making the hair appear more vibrant.
Microformulation

Member
June 12, 2016 at 1:02 am

Your PEG-12 Dimethicone is soluble in water and alcohols, unlike the remainder of your silicone phase. It should be added below 40C. Without manufacturing instructions I would have to guess that this is not a hot mix.

All in all, you may just have a process error.
manstra

Member
June 12, 2016 at 1:08 am

This is a cold mix process you’re right
Chemist77

Member
July 18, 2016 at 5:01 pm

Phenyl Trimethicone comes to mind when shine is talked about, check if it can work in this emulsion for you.
manstra

Member
October 2, 2016 at 2:45 pm

Thank you all for the feedback. I found a very good emulsifier for silicone based systems (1-10%). Salcare cs96 1,2% emulsifier managed to pass all the stability tests in my system. It’s an cationic emulsifier/disperser that solves stability issues in cationic silicone systems.

@Chemist77 can you please give me a product name for this silicone?

Thank you all for the support and the comments.
Ayman

Member
October 3, 2016 at 7:01 am

I know that salcare cs96 from Dow as thickner not emusfier ,but you say it pass at all the stability tests in your system that is good
Chemist77

Member
October 12, 2016 at 5:36 am

It used to be called DC 556 Cosmetic Grade Fluid @manstra, but I cannot say with 100% conviction if it can work in an emulsion though in anhydrous silicone hair products it was wonderful.