Foams and foam films stabilized by CnTAB: influence of the chain length and of impurities.

Quantitative comparison of foam films and the corresponding foams is very demanding. One problem is the fact that investigations of foam films are usually performed at constant capillary pressures P, whereas in foams P is a function of the height of the foam column. A way out of this dilemma is to examine films and foams at the same P. The method of choice for the foam films is the thin film pressure balance (TFPB), whereas the corresponding investigation of foams is based on the foam pressure drop technique (FPDT). An extensive TFPB study on foam films stabilized by the cationic alkyltrimethylammonium bromides C(n)TAB with n=10, 12, 14, and 16 was performed by Bergeron. For this series a steep increase of the foam film stability was observed when the chain length was increased from n=12 to n=14. Moreover, the influence of impurities was found to be limited to the films stabilized by C(12)TAB. In order to study the correlation between the properties of films and foams, the present study deals with the respective foam properties investigated with the FPDT. It was found that both the steep increase in the film stability and the influence of impurities are also reflected in the properties of the foam.