Methods and compositions utilize a sand obtained by combining a dirty sand with a chemical additive, where the combination decreases the water drain time through the sand compared to the sand without the chemical additive. The decrease of water drain time reduces the amount of time to dry the sand after a wash, and when using the sand for proppant, promotes conductivity of fluid through the sand when the sand is in a fracture of a subterranean formation.

A method for coating a surface of fused silica material is provided. A surface of a piece of material is pre-conditioned with a hydrolyzing reagent creating an SiOH or ROH bond on the surface. The surface is covered with thionyl chloride for a predetermined amount of time converting the SiOH bond on the surface to an SiCl. The thionyl chloride is removed and the surface is covered with a compound or mixture having an amine group converting the SiCl bond to an SiNR bond. The compound or mixture is removed.

Provided are a nanocomposite body, a method of manufacturing the nanocomposite body, and a nanocomposite film including the nanocomposite body. The nanocomposite body includes: inorganic particles; a polymer matrix; and grafting polymer chains each of which includes a polyol structure, wherein the inorganic particles and the polymer matrix are linked by the grafting polymer chains.

A process for producing cationic colloidal silica which is surface-modified by at least one aminoalkoxysilane having an amino group in cationic form, comprises: (i) under alkaline conditions, reacting a negatively charged colloidal silica with at least one aminoalkoxysilane having an amino group in cationic form at above 20 C. to produce a surface-modified colloidal silica with a net negative surface charge; and (ii) reversing the surface charge of the net negatively charged surface-modified colloidal silica by contacting the net negatively charged surface-modified colloidal silica with an ion exchange resin to obtain a positively charged surface-modified colloidal silica.

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 silica-based matting agents are also disclosed.

The present application discloses an eco-friendly long-lasting heat-sensitive paper, including a substrate layer, a base color layer, a heat-sensitive covering layer, and a protective layer that are arranged sequentially from bottom to top, where the heat-sensitive covering layer is prepared as follows: coating a heat-sensitive covering layer raw material on the base color layer, and oven-drying a resulting product, where the heat-sensitive covering layer raw material is an emulsion obtained by mixing an acrylic hollow microsphere with a host resin. In the present application, an acrylic hollow microsphere that can change from an opaque state to a transparent state after rupturing under heat is used as a heat-sensitive covering layer to cover a base color layer to obtain the heat-sensitive paper with heat-sensitive color development characteristics.

Composites comprising polymer grafted particles that are capable of forming interparticle interactions, and related methods, are generally described.