Steven Adamy

Automation of phase diagram recording

An automated titration system has been developed for generating data to construct phase diagrams, which are extremely useful in the development of personal and household products. In this report, we describe the system and how it can be utilized to perform the technique of dual titration. In the procedure, a clear microemulsion sample is titrated with an oil until the dispersion turns cloudy (defined to be a transmittance below 90%). The mixture is then dosed with a certain quantity of cosurfactant, more than enough to clear the mixture. The sample is again titrated with oil. This process continues until the sample no longer clear upon adding cosurfactant. The resulting measurements of oil uptake can be used to characterize the boundaries of the L1 or oil-in-water microemulsion region of the phase space. Experiments for up to sixteen samples can be performed, each having individual setup and operating instructions. Features include completely automated operation, computer-controlled two-speed mixing, viscosity detection at the end-point condition and the storage of results in a computerized format.