The invention relates to a process for delamination of a layered silicate in an aqueous medium, wherein in a first step a layered silicate is treated with a delamination agent, and in a second step the thus treated layered silicate is contacted with an aqueous medium, whereby the delamination agent is a compound having exactly one positively charged atom, the positively charged atom being selected from the group consisting of nitrogen and phosphorous; contains n.sub.f functional groups selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl groups, ether groups, sulfonic acid ester groups and carboxylic acid ester groups, n.sub.f being a number from 3 to 10; comprises a total number of carbon atoms n.sub.c being from 4 to 12; has a ratio n.sub.c/(1+n.sub.f) from 1 to 2, wherein n.sub.c is the total number of carbon atoms of the delamination agent and n.sub.f is the total number of functional groups in the delamination agent as defined under ii.; contains n.sub.t atoms selected from the group consisting of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, oxygen and sulfur, n.sub.t being 9; and wherein the delamination agent is used to treat the layered silicate in an amount of at least equal to the cation exchange capacity of the layered silicate. The invention further relates to the thus produced delaminated layered silicates, their use in the production of composite and coating material and as a barrier material. Moreover, the invention relates to compositions containing the thus produced delaminated layered silicates.

The invention relates to a process for delamination of a layered silicate in an aqueous medium, wherein in a first step a layered silicate having a layer charge L.sub.c from 0.25 to 1.0 and a charge equivalent area A.sub.s=47.6 .sup.2/(2L.sub.c), is treated with a delamination agent, and in a second step the thus treated layered silicate is contacted with an aqueous medium, whereby the delamination agent is a compound having exactly one positively charged atom, the positively charged atom being selected from the group consisting of nitrogen and phosphorous; contains of functional groups selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl groups, ether groups, sulfonic acid ester groups and carboxylic acid ester groups, n.sub.f being a number from 1 to 10; comprises a total number of carbon atoms n.sub.c being from 2 to 20; has a ratio n.sub.c/(1+n.sub.f) from 1 to 5, wherein n.sub.c is the total number of carbon atoms of the delamination agent and n.sub.f is the total number of functional groups in the delamination agent as defined under ii.; and has a charge equivalent area A.sub.d being from at least 0.90-fold to 3-fold of the charge equivalent area of the layered silicate A.sub.s; and wherein the delamination agent is used to treat the layered silicate in an amount of at least equal to the cation exchange capacity of the layered silicate, with the proviso that n.sub.f2, if L.sub.c0.6. The invention further relates to the thus produced delaminated layered silicates, their use in the production of composite and coating material and as a barrier material. Moreover, the invention relates to compositions containing the thus produced delaminated layered silicates.

The invention relates to nanoparticles of a composite material comprising a light absorbing agent dispersed in a matrix of a mineral oxide, to a method for the preparation of such nanoparticles, to the use of said method to modify the hue of nanoparticles of composite material comprising a light absorbing agent, and to an ophthalmic lens comprising such nanoparticles.

In a filler for tires containing silica particles and an aggregation inhibitor inhibiting the aggregation of the silica particles, the aggregation inhibitor contains at least one kind selected from the group consisting of phosphate and derivative thereof, amino alcohol, cationic surfactant, water-soluble aminosilane, nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound, nonionic surfactant, tertiary amine compound, polyvinyl alcohol, non-zinc soap, saturated fatty acid ester, and glycerine fatty acid ester.

A method of preparing hydrophobic porous silica includes adding an alcohol to a solvent in which a porous silica particle including a hydrophilic group is dispersed and stirring the same to form a mixture, drying the mixture including the porous silica particle in a vacuum, and condensation reacting the hydrophilic group of the porous silica particle with the alcohol on the surface of the porous silica particle to modify the surface of the porous silica particle to be hydrophobic.

A colorant-containing solid material (1) of the present invention includes a colorant (10) and a matrix (20). The matrix (20) is formed of a silica and a polysilsesquioxane and covers the colorant (10). An absorption intensity derived from a hydrocarbon group that is not directly bonded to a silicon atom, an absorption intensity derived from a bond between a silicon atom and a non-reactive functional group, and an absorption intensity derived from a bond between a silicon atom and a hydroxy group, determined by an infrared spectroscopic analysis based on a KBr pellet method using a Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer, are denoted as Ia, Ib and Ic, respectively. The colorant-containing solid material (1) satisfies at least one of conditions Ib/Ia1.1 and Ib/Ic0.6.

A precipitated silica suitable for thermal insulation applications and a process for its manufacture.

Improved silica-based matting agents are disclosed. The matting agents are useful in waterborne coatings composition to provide exceptional properties to a wood based substrate. Films resulting from the silica-based matting agents on a wood substrate unexpectedly provide improved chemical resistance and/or film clarity to the surface of the wood substrate. Methods of making and using the matting agents are also disclosed.

A chemically modified precipitated silica characterised by the presence of alkyl moieties chemically bound to the silica and a process for its manufacture.

In order to provide a filler composition for fabricating a high-performance filler achieving good productivity while preventing worsening of a working environment and production of a VOC and to provide a filler and a method for producing the filler, a filler composition of the present invention contains wet silica, a polyoxyethylene unsaturated fatty acid ester, and a sulfur-containing silane coupling agent.