Non-soap thickener

Since 1977 several new thickener types have become widely used, including complex (sodium, lithium, calcium or aluminium), polyurea, modified clays, and other non-soap thickeners. To bring the picture up-to-date, Risdon carried out an evaluation in 1986 of three of the newer grease types not inciuded in the previous programme. They were lithium complex, aluminium complex and polyurea. They included one EP (extreme pressure) and one non-EP grease for each type of thickener, and all were of the same consistency grade, NLGI No 2. 

Non-soap greases using finely divided solids as thickeners are useful as lubricants at elevated temperatures. Materials used include organO Clays such as dimethyldioctyl-decyl-ammonium bentonite (Bentone greases) or selected dyestuffs which produce brightly coloured greases. 

The high viscosity of certain micro emulsions is used for the adhesion of cleaner concentrates on vertical surfaces while on dilution mobile microemulsions are formed [96]. The need for this type of behaviour is especially evident when it comes to household cleaners like toilet bowl cleaners where the formulation needs to be acidic to cope with the special dirt met there, e.g. soap scum. An example of microemulsions with high viscosity for this purpose can be found in [97] which discloses acidic thickened sprayable microemulsion composition based on a balanced mixture of anionic and non-ionic surfactants,... 

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