Abstract

The combination of polymer and surfactant additives has been used in a variety of applications such as drug delivery, oil recovery, and cosmetics (Bai et al. 2010; Dan et al. 2009; Harada and Kataoka 2006; Stoll et al. 2010; Villetti et al. 2011; Zhang et al. 2011). In general, polymers are introduced to a surfactant system to control rheology, stability of the system, or to manipulate surface adsorption. The addition of a polymer may help to remove a surfactant from a surface or to improve its adsorption at the surface. In many applications, we need a suitable rheology such as thickening of solution or gelation of solution. The addition of polymer allows the manipulation and control of the solution rheology. The polymer can also speed up the micellization process resulting in a decrease in the free surfactant concentration. This property is exploited in skin formulations in which free surfactant molecules can harm the skin and cause irritation. The combination of polymer and surfactant additives are also being exploited to intensify frictional drag reduction in the turbulent flow of liquids in pipelines (Mohsenipour and Pal 2013).