Very fine, 10% vol/vol, n-hexadecane and n-octadecane oil-in-water
emulsions, stabilized by sodium dodecyl sulfate, have been prepared. Due to
the very small size of the oil droplets, these emulsions are susceptible to
undergo Ostwald ripening and/or coalescence. The maturation of the
emulsions was studied over several months by three different techniques:
ultrasonic attenuation spectroscopy, static light scattering and dynamic light
scattering. Ultrasonic spectroscopy measurements between 0.5 and 10 MHz
appeared as the most convenient technique for monitoring the changes in the
size of such droplets. Moreover, the correlation of the results from the three
different techniques allows a complete determination of the particle size and
polydispersity during the ageing.