12. Appendix: preparation of silicone oil emulsions

While the formulation of a silicone emulsion depends on the desired application properties, which we won't go into here, the technology used for the industrial emulsification of silicones depends on the following critical parameters:

• the phase diagram of the surfactant used (solubility in water and possibly silicone oil, as a function of temperature, aptitude for phase inversion, ability to form organized phases with water...), its interfacial properties and its rate of diffusion at interfaces (whether or not it can rapidly heal the new surfaces created by mechanical fragmentation); for example, in the case of a non-ionic surfactant with a low cloud point, processes leading to overheating by self-heating should be avoided;

• the viscosity of the silicone phase to be emulsified ;

• ...