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What are the testing methods for defoamers?
Release Date:
2022-03-14
Defoamers are substances that eliminate foam; they possess low surface tension and high surface activity, enabling them to suppress or remove foam in a system. During industrial production, numerous harmful foams can form, significantly impeding process efficiency. In such cases, defoamers must be added to eliminate these undesirable foams.
Defoamers, as the name suggests, are substances that eliminate foam. They possess low surface tension and high surface activity, enabling them to inhibit or remove foam from a system. In industrial production processes, large amounts of undesirable foam often arise, significantly impeding workflow; in such cases, defoamers must be added to mitigate this issue.
Defoamers are primarily suitable for applications in printed circuit board (PCB) processes, the chemical industry, electroplating, textile dyeing and printing, papermaking, pharmaceuticals, water-based inks, ceramic slitting, steel‑plate cleaning, aluminum processing, various wastewater‑treatment systems, and other industrial aqueous systems, where they effectively eliminate and inhibit foam.
With such a wide variety of defoamers available, how should one conduct an initial screening?
First, when selecting a defoamer, the most basic principle is: choose an oil‑based defoamer for oil‑based systems, a water‑based defoamer for water‑based systems, and a powder‑form defoamer for solid systems. Simply put, the defoamer should be able to disperse evenly throughout the medium being treated. The flowchart that follows will provide you with some helpful tips:
After initial screening, and before large-scale deployment in production, we can first conduct product testing in the laboratory. So, what are some suitable testing methods?
Currently, the defoamer industry employs four main testing methods: the shake‑bottle (shaking) method, the bubbling method, the high‑speed stirring method, and the pump‑circulation‑spray method. Below is an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of each of these methods; depending on the specific product characteristics, an appropriate test method can be selected to achieve optimal results.
1. Shake-flask (shaking) method
Required apparatus: 100 mL graduated cylinder
Advantages: Simple hardware requirements, easy to operate, and suitable for low-viscosity foaming media.
Limitations: It can only provide a rather rough comparison of defoamers and cannot simulate real‑world production conditions, such as foaming systems operating under high‑temperature or highly alkaline environments.
2. Bubble Method
Required apparatus: bubbling device
Advantages: The bubble‑generation method is well suited for foaming media with medium to low viscosities and is particularly appropriate for evaluating the defoaming performance of antifoaming agents.
Limitations: Not suitable for systems with high viscosity.
3. High-Speed Mixing Method
Required equipment: stirring apparatus
The WACKER AKZ testing equipment features a dual‑stirring‑head design, thereby eliminating the localized under‑mixing that can occur with a single stirrer. Furthermore, changes in foam height are measured using an optical sensing system and transmitted to a computer for data acquisition and recording, thus avoiding delays and other errors associated with visual observation.
4. Pump Circulation Jetting Method
Required equipment: Pump circulation system
Advantages: Pump‑circulation jetting is particularly well suited for simulating foam‑generating processes involving impact, such as pulp washing in the pulping process and metalworking operations. When equipped with an external circulating water‑bath system, the pump‑circulation setup can also replicate the actual operating temperatures of the working fluid during production.
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