3. Results and discussion
3.1. Rheology
Results of rheological studies in glass pot packaging material can be observed in Fig. 2. Same studies were conducted with plastic pots, plastic tubes and metallic tubes (graphs not presented). The solar emulsion studied presented pseudoplastic behavior, exhibiting a reduction in viscosity when the spreading/shearing velocity increases. This emulsion also presented thixotropic behavior, which is defined as the capacity of a system to present lowest viscosity when subjected to shear and its capacity to recover its original structure during a defined period after the shear is removed. Samples stored at 35 °C presented similar behavior as those presented by stored at room temperature. A decrease in viscosity was observed with an increase in the storage temperature. A decrease in thixotropy was observed in samples stored at 10 °C when compared with those maintained at room temperature (25 ± 1 °C).