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Basic question(s) about “crosspolymer” ingredients as emulsifiers/suspension agents
Hi, all.
I’m trying to stay au naturel, but after seeing Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer on a manufacturer’s ingredient list, I was surprised to learn it can allegedly emulsify up to 50% oil at a concentration of just 0.2%. Sounds almost unbelievable.A few questions, please:
Are these true emulsifiers, or just suspensions?
Can I ask what the downsides are, if any, of using a component like this for a gel creme?
Is there a more preferable crosspolymer-type product out there that formulators tend to prefer over this one?
Thank you.
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2 Replies
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If you mean like from the Pemulen series, then the downside will be the particle size, it won’t be as small if using a normal emulsifier. You can consider it a suspension. You can look at their formulation guide.
For making a gel cream, you can just use an emulsifier + carbomer combo.
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suswang8 said:…Are these true emulsifiers, or just suspensions?
…Where’s the difference?It’s an emulsion/suspension. The effect used to stabilise it is severalfold: high external viscosity, Pickering type emulsion, and hydrophobic interactions similar to a polymeric emulsifier. It may not be perfect regarding hydrophobic interactions but that doesn’t mean anything. True, standard prodction processes will more likely result in coarser emulsions or require a higher energy input but one can as easily mess up any type of emulsion… an emulsion is not a stable system and the way how you create it is often more important than which emulsifier you use. But that’s a bit OT.
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