Projects
On-demand Interfacial Coverage and Composition using Double Emulsion Templating KU Leuven
Emulsions are dispersions of an immiscible liquid into another liquid. We encounter them on daily basis, such as in food and personal care products. However, emulsions are thermodynamically unstable due to the high cost of the interface between the droplets and matrix fluid. For this reason, emulsions tend to coarsen over time by morphological processes such as coalescence and Ostwald ripening to reduce their interfacial energy. Therefore, ...
Controlling the Dynamics of Liquid Interface KU Leuven
Foaming and antifoaming of protein-based dispersions and emulsions KU Leuven
Model protein-based dispersions and emulsions will be developed. Their key structural characteristics will be studied, so the following questions/tasks about foaming and foam stability need to be addressed: • Investigation of the foaming behavior of model emulsions, with controlled size and deformability (interfacial rheology), and stability vs coalescence – then study what determines their antifoaming behavior. • Investigation of the foaming ...
Microrheology of complex fluid-fluid interfaces. KU Leuven
When fluids such as air, water and oil come in contact with each another, they often remain separated while interacting through an interface. Examples of this are a simple air-over-water system and various oil and water mixtures. More complex examples include foams, emulsions and biological membranes. The behavior of these systems is dependent on the properties of the interfaces. For example, adding soap to water changes the properties of an ...
A colloidal approach to study the role of cereal flour constituents in mixed cereal breadmaking and product quality. KU Leuven
Aeration during their production is important for the structure of many food products. In bread, proper gas cell stabilization results in a high loaf volume and a homogeneous fine grained crumb. In wheat breadmaking, the gluten proteins are initially responsible for stabilizing the gas cells incorporated during dough mixing. However, at a certain point during fermentation, a liquid film takes over gas cell stabilization. This film is made up ...
Foaming and antifoaming from emulsions - structure development from emulsion concentration, drying, or freezing KU Leuven
PhD position: Flow-structure-properties relations for Pickering emulsions KU Leuven
For many applications, polymers have substantial advantages as compared to other materials, e.g. they are light-weight, flexible, easy to process and corrosion-resistant. Additional functionality can be introduced by the addition of conductive or magnetic particles. Thereby, materials can be developed for energy harvesting, electric discharge protection, electromagnetic shielding or soft robotics. However, the resulting properties are ...
Flow-induced structuring of emulsions and bijels stabilized by interfacially localized particles and crystals KU Leuven
Flow-induced liquid-liquid dynamics will be exploited as the anisotropy-driving mechanism. This is, on the one hand, done in competition with solidification (through crystallization) of one of the bulk phases and, on the other hand, by solidification of the interface (either by an added solid phase or by crystallization).
Competition between (flow-induced) crystallization and Diels-Alder crosslinking KU Leuven
The study of the competition between flow-induced crystallization and Diels-Alder crosslinking, where both phenomena have distinctively different time scales. DA crosslinking, which is typically a very fast process, is studied by the chemical modification of existing polymers (poly-e-caprolactone PCL) by means of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetrical Analysis (TGA). The speed of the crystallization phenomena can be ...