Hypothesis: Nonionic surfactants have been widely used for many consumer products and industrial processes, and their applications often involve temperature-cycling across cloud point temperature (T-cloud). To explore the behavior of nonionic surfactants across T-cloud and when mixed with colloidal silica at a very dilute concentration around 0.1 wt%, a series of 1,2-epoxybutane-capped alcohol ethoxylates (BAEs) with various cloud points is used as a model system. Experiments: BAEs with cloud points from 15 to 64 degrees C were successfully prepared by varying the lengths of 1,2-epoxybutane (BO) and ethylene oxide (EO) blocks and their phase behavior across T-cloud was studied using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Findings: In the absence of silica, the NMR signals are not greatly affected by the cloud point transition, but both the water and surfactant exhibit a decrease in spin-spin relaxation time once the temperature reaches the T-cloud. In the presence of silica, the NMR spectra indicate significantly reduced mobility of the EO portion relative to the alkyl and BO segments. Furthermore, our results suggest that the BAE surfactants are not fractionally clouding out or precipitating with a portion of the compositional distribution during the cloud point transition. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.