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Rheological Properties of Personal Lubricants

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Part of the book series: Soft and Biological Matter ((SOBIMA))

Abstract

In this study, a number of lubricants were assessed for their rheological properties, and qualitative correlation with sensory experience was made. The lubricants contained various structurants including xanthan, hydroxyethyl cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose and carbomer. A range of shear thinning behaviour was found, with the samples containing xanthan gum showing the highest degree of shear thinning behaviour and the highest degree of gel-like behaviour. The non-water-based lubricants which contained silicon oil or glycerin showed the lowest viscosities and relatively little shear thinning. On cooling, samples containing hydroxyethyl cellulose showed a crossover temperature where G′ became higher than G′′, suggesting a transition from a more liquid-like behaviour to a more solid-like behaviour. The crossover temperature was higher for samples which exhibited higher steady shear viscosities. The rheological measurements correlated with sensory data that the xanthan-based lubricant could be easily spread and had a more ‘solid’ feeling with little tendency to drip or flow.

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Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Andrew Lai Eng Khiong and Tee Kok Wee from Curtin University Sarawak for performing the experiments.

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Correspondence to Aaron S. M. Goh .

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Goh, A.S.M., Chuah, B.S., Nguyen, K.C. (2017). Rheological Properties of Personal Lubricants. In: Kaneda, I. (eds) Rheology of Biological Soft Matter. Soft and Biological Matter. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56080-7_12

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