Rheological and Textural Characterization of Acrylic Polymer Water Dispersions for Cosmetic Use

Despite the traditional trial and error formulation approach, industries require more rational, time, and money-saving procedures to achieve functional and sensorial objectives. We developed a methodology based on rheology and texture analysis to outline the physical–mechanical properties of aqueous dispersions of acrylic polymers belonging to three different classes: carbomers, acryloyldimethyltaurate derivatives, and predispersed acrylic polymers. Statistical analyses evidenced a significant correlation between rheological and textural parameters: viscosity (η) correlates with firmness, while storage (G′) and loss (G″) moduli with adhesiveness, and stringiness. The results demonstrated that the combined approach of these two instrumental techniques is useful to discriminate each cosmetic raw material on the basis of their applicative specificities and to rationalize their use in personal care products obtaining a wide range of textural characteristics.