Aqueous foams stabilized by the non-ionic surfactants n-dodecyl-b-D-maltoside (b-C12G2) and hexaethyleneglycol monododecyl ether (C12E6) as well as by their 1 : 1 mixture were studied as a function of the total surfactant concentration from 0.1 to 10 cmc. Foamability and foam stability were measured with home-built winding equipment, the commercially available FoamScan, and a home-built foam conductivity apparatus (FCA), respectively. It was found that the foamability increases with increasing surfactant concentration for both the single and the mixed surfactant systems. On the other hand, at a fixed relative surfactant concentration (c/cmc) the foamability of b-C12G2 solutions was found to be much higher than that of C12E6 solutions, while the 1 : 1 mixture behaves like the pure C12E6. As was the case for the foamability, the stability of foams stabilized by b-C12G2 was much higher than that of foams stabilized by C12E6, while the foam stability of the 1 : 1 mixture was comparable to that of the pure C12E6. The foam results are discussed in the light of static surface tensions, dynamic surface tensions, and surface elasticities, which were measured for the single and the mixed surfactant systems.
Laboratoire De Physique Des Solides, UMR 8502, Centre Universitaire, 91405 Orsay Cedex (France)