Sodium lauryl sulfate is an anionic surfactant. Its main functions and uses are:
1. Emulsification: It can emulsify water and oil and mix them evenly. It is an important emulsifier for making emulsions.
2. Penetration: It can increase the penetration and wetting ability of liquid, which is beneficial to cleaning.
3. Foaming effect: It can make liquid produce rich foam, so it is a foaming agent for making detergents and shampoos.
4. Dispersion: It can improve the ability of liquid to disperse solid substances and make the solids disperse evenly.
5. Softening effect: It can quickly moisten and soften fibers and is used in the textile industry.
6. Anti-corrosion effect: It can change the growth environment of microorganisms and play a certain anti-corrosion effect.
7. Commonly used in synthetic detergents, shampoos, cosmetics and other daily chemical products.
8. Also used in pharmaceutical, printing and dyeing, papermaking, pesticide and other industries.
9. It has emulsifying and dissolving effects in oil extraction.