CRITICAL-BEHAVIOR OF A 3-COMPONENT MICROEMULSION

The critical behavior of a ternary microemulsion consisting of water, benzene, and benzyldimethyl-n-hexadecylammonium chloride is studied by light-scattering techniques, controlling temperature to approach the critical point. This microemulsion is chosen since it is very stable. Great care was taken to ensure the measurements were performed at the critical concentration, and a wide range of temperature was covered. According to theory, one expects Fisher renormalized Ising critical exponents in a ternary mixture when temperature is the controlled variable. Contrary to this expectation, we find values of the exponents gamma = 1.18 +/- 0.03 and nu = 0.60 +/- 0.02, indicating rather unrenormalized Ising-like behavior of ternary microemulsions.