Lexol Leather Cleaner Question
- Thread starter akimel
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Street5927
New member
I would imagine that it is. Here is my reasoning: On their website, it says that it is an aqueous emulsion of oils. Aqueous=water, Emulsion= mixture of two or more things, oils=oils. Therefore, I would imagine that it is a mixture of water and oils to create the cleaner, thus being a water based cleaner.
An emulsions simple definition is that it is a mixture of things held together with "emulsifiers" to prevent separation. It's not a simple water-based or solvent-based chemical. It could be a mixture of water, oils, and solvents, or any other combination of those. It's hard to say whats in it exactly without contacting the manufacturer and finding out if there are any solvents, if that's what you're curious about. Considering that it's for leather though, I would doubt that its got a very high concentration of solvents, or any at all.
imported_BobbyG
New member
Akimel,
I'm curious, why the interest in a water-based only?
I'm curious, why the interest in a water-based only?
87ninefiveone
New member
Assuming Lexol knows what they're talking about, and that saying its an "aqueous emulsion" isn't just some sort of marketing hype, then yes, it is water based.
As for the confusion surrounding what an emulsion is...lyzing was closest.
An emulsion is a stabilized mixture of two non-miscable fluids, i.e. if two fluid are soluble in each other then you have a simple mixture not an emulsion. The classic example is an "oil in water" emulsion, but you can also have "water in oil" emulsions as well. Either way, the lesser component is dispersed in the carrier liquid by use of surfactants. To form an emulsion the two non-miscable components are added to one another and then agitated such that the lesser component becomes dispersed into tiny droplets within the carrier. A surfactant then "emulsifies" the solution by coating the tiny dispersed droplets which effectively stabilizes the droplets and stops them from coalescing and makes the emulsion stable.
Further, you can tell how small the emulsion droplets are and in some cases how concentrated an emulsion is by its color. Opaque white emulsions typically have a large particle size, while faintly opaque or pearlecent emulsions typically have a small particle size approacing 1um or less in size. A special subset of emulsions called micro-emulsions can even appear translucent because their particle size is small enough that visible light is unaffected passing through the solution. This only typically happens when the ratio of surfactant to dispersed component is extremely high as smaller particle size droplets have a significantly higher suface area per unit of volume and thus need more surfactant to stabilize the smaller droplets.
End nerd rant.
As for the confusion surrounding what an emulsion is...lyzing was closest.
An emulsion is a stabilized mixture of two non-miscable fluids, i.e. if two fluid are soluble in each other then you have a simple mixture not an emulsion. The classic example is an "oil in water" emulsion, but you can also have "water in oil" emulsions as well. Either way, the lesser component is dispersed in the carrier liquid by use of surfactants. To form an emulsion the two non-miscable components are added to one another and then agitated such that the lesser component becomes dispersed into tiny droplets within the carrier. A surfactant then "emulsifies" the solution by coating the tiny dispersed droplets which effectively stabilizes the droplets and stops them from coalescing and makes the emulsion stable.
Further, you can tell how small the emulsion droplets are and in some cases how concentrated an emulsion is by its color. Opaque white emulsions typically have a large particle size, while faintly opaque or pearlecent emulsions typically have a small particle size approacing 1um or less in size. A special subset of emulsions called micro-emulsions can even appear translucent because their particle size is small enough that visible light is unaffected passing through the solution. This only typically happens when the ratio of surfactant to dispersed component is extremely high as smaller particle size droplets have a significantly higher suface area per unit of volume and thus need more surfactant to stabilize the smaller droplets.
End nerd rant.
87ninefiveone:
The description or definition of an "emulsion" is why many car cleaning products carry the notation of SHAKE WELL in the directions for proper usage. You are re-stablishing the physical properties of the product as designed. It's not so much the chemical properties that are being "mixed" by shaking, but the "elmusifier" or surfactant with the other chemicals present that are being mixed to form the product. Some products come "out of solution", but really they are being separated by their specfic gravity (physical weight) when in rest (non-use) for a long period of time and, hence, end up in layers on top of one another. Granted, we've all had older products whose chemical characteristis have undergone change during this non-use time or simply will not go into solution because the emulsifier/carrier has evaporated no matter how hard one shakes the product.
This is one reason why I (and Accumulator) shake our "older" liquid car care product bottles once or twice a year. Liquid Glass was/is notorious for this. You can HEAR the solution change inside the can as you shake it, often taking as long as 45 seconds to a minute to re-establish the mix.
(PS: It's not nerd rant, it's applied science)
The description or definition of an "emulsion" is why many car cleaning products carry the notation of SHAKE WELL in the directions for proper usage. You are re-stablishing the physical properties of the product as designed. It's not so much the chemical properties that are being "mixed" by shaking, but the "elmusifier" or surfactant with the other chemicals present that are being mixed to form the product. Some products come "out of solution", but really they are being separated by their specfic gravity (physical weight) when in rest (non-use) for a long period of time and, hence, end up in layers on top of one another. Granted, we've all had older products whose chemical characteristis have undergone change during this non-use time or simply will not go into solution because the emulsifier/carrier has evaporated no matter how hard one shakes the product.
This is one reason why I (and Accumulator) shake our "older" liquid car care product bottles once or twice a year. Liquid Glass was/is notorious for this. You can HEAR the solution change inside the can as you shake it, often taking as long as 45 seconds to a minute to re-establish the mix.
(PS: It's not nerd rant, it's applied science)
Dan
Well-known member
akimel said:
Woolite
tssdetailing
New member
lexol sucks...seek another cleaner. It's just not aggressive enough.