Rheological behaviour of aerated palm kernel oil/water emulsions

The interactions between emulsion droplets containing solid fat are important for the rheology and functionality of the emulsion as a whole, particularly for aerated emulsion systems where partial coalescence plays a role in the overall structure of the product. In this study, the interactions between emulsion droplets appeared to be sensitive to the relative amounts of solid fat and liquid oil, thus changing the rheology of the whole system. Incorporation of air had a major effect on these interactions as it appeared to force the emulsion to adopt a stronger structure by encouraging partial coalescence. The rheological behaviour of a non-aerated emulsion and an aerated emulsion was compared. Non-aerated samples did not show major changes in viscosity with increasing temperature. In contrast, the aerated emulsion seemed to be considerably more temperature sensitive, showing a dramatic increase of viscosity as the temperature was increased above a critical value. The effect of temperature ramp rates was investigated. Higher temperature ramp rates resulted in delayed changes in viscosity. The phase behaviour of the fat is both time and temperature dependent; therefore, a faster temperature ramp means that a higher temperature could be reached before critical phase changes in the fat could take place. The rheological behaviour of the emulsions was also dependent on the shear rate applied during the experiment.