Medical Hydrology and Balneology: Environmental Aspects

Variation of the instrumental texture of peloids
as a function of the water content
Armijo F (1-2) , Corvillo I (1-2) , Vázquez I (3) , Carretero MI (4) , Pozo M (5) , Maraver F (1-2)
(1) Professional School of Medical Hydrology, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad
Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
(2) Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Medical Hydrology, Faculty
of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
(3) Geological Survey of Spain (IGME), Tres Cantos-Madrid, Spain
(4) Department of Crystallography, Mineralogy and Agrochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry,
Universidad Sevilla, Spain
(5) Department of Geology and Geochemistry, Faculty of Science, Universidad Autonoma,
Tres Cantos-Madrid, Spain
farmijoc@med.ucm.es
Introduction
During the I Congress on Iberoamerican Peloids, peloids were defined from a
physicochemical standpoint, as a "heterogeneous systems, with a solid phase comprising
a mixture of organic and / or inorganic solids suspended or wetted by a
liquid phase formed by a solution of ions and molecules, organic and inorganic,
with water as the solvent that can be used in therapy or as a topical cosmetic" 1 . In
practice it is a mixture of a solid, usually a clay, with water.
In 1991 we began to study the instrumental texture of peloids to know their
rheological behavior and its acceptance, using equipment that provides physical
parameters avoiding subjectivity of these measurements. The instrumental texture
provides parameters related to the rheological behavior of the sample obtained by
penetrometry and compression. The parameters used were: hardness, cohesiveness,
and adhesiviness 2-3-4 .
Materials and Methods
The samples consist of mixtures prepared in the laboratory with three solid materials
normally used for the preparation of peloids with deionized distilled water,
Synergy Millipore quality. The samples were prepared by adding water to the
solids, allowing the mixture to naturally moisturize and then were manually homogenized.
Water and solid content was determined in these mixtures. The assay was performed
with the Brookfield texturimeter LRFA. The sample was placed in a nondeformable
container of inverted troncoconical shape of a polymeric material. The
TPA method with two consecutive cycles5 and a ball probe were used.
Balnea
2012, núm. 6, 147-149
147
ISBN: 978-84-669-1887-0
978-84-669-3482-4