Disclosed a method of preparing composite particles comprising a non-porous spherical particulate inorganic material deposited on a plate-like inorganic material, where refractive index of said particulate inorganic material is greater than that of said plate-like inorganic particulate material, wherein, said spherical material occupies 20 to 80% of total surface area of said plate-like material and wherein the amount of said spherical material accounts for 2 to 20 wt % of said composite particles, further wherein said plate-like inorganic material is mica and said non-porous spherical particulate inorganic material is silicone dioxide, said method comprising the steps of: (iv) silanization of said plate-like inorganic material to get a silanized material having functional groups “A”; (v) silanization of said non-porous spherical particulate inorganic material to get a silanized material having functional groups “B”, where A≠B; and where said “A” and said “B” are capable of reacting with each other such that by way of their reaction, said non-porous spherical particulate inorganic material deposits on said plate-like inorganic material; and, (vi) reacting said silanized material having functional groups “A” with said silanized material having functional groups “B”.

A method produces transparent ceramics having high transmittance and no bubble defects with uniform insertion loss over the entire inner surface thereof. The method comprising the steps of: obtaining a candidate composition containing a binder, optionally a dispersant, and optionally a plasticizer; dissolving the candidate composition in a solvent, then reducing a contained solvent volume to 0.1% by mass or less, and measuring a glass transition temperature; selecting a candidate composition having a glass transition temperature of 25° C. or more and 60° C. or less as an organic additive composition; preparing the organic additive composition containing the binder, optionally the dispersant, and the plasticizer, and having the composition obtained in the selecting step; pulverizing a raw material for sintering formed from metal oxide powder and the organic additive composition to obtain a pulverized mixture; granulating the pulverized mixture; sintering the granulated mixture to obtain a sintered body; and pressurizing the sintered body.

A method of manufacturing colored chalk. The method for manufacturing colored chalk includes preparing a colorant, combining the colorant with a volume of water, adding magnesium carbonate to the combination of water and colorant until a paste is formed, mixing the paste until the paste is homogenous, heating the paste in a kiln until the water is removed, and grinding a mass of colored magnesium carbonate into a powder having a desired fineness. In some embodiments, the colorant includes iron oxide, charcoal, or Camellia sinensis leaves.

The present invention relates to a process for preparing a surface treated filler material product, the surface treated filler material product as well as an article comprising the surface treated filler material product.

Disclosed a method of preparing composite particles comprising a non-porous spherical particulate inorganic material deposited on a plate-like inorganic material, where refractive index of said particulate inorganic material is greater than that of said plate-like inorganic particulate material, wherein, said spherical material occupies 20 to 80% of total surface area of said plate-like material and wherein the amount of said spherical material accounts for 2 to 20 wt % of said composite particles, further wherein said plate-like inorganic material is mica and said non-porous spherical particulate inorganic material is silicone dioxide, said method comprising the steps of: (iv) silanization of said plate-like inorganic material to get a silanized material having functional groups “A”; (v) silanization of said non-porous spherical particulate inorganic material to get a silanized material having functional groups “B”, where A≠B; and where said “A” and said “B” are capable of reacting with each other such that by way of their reaction, said non-porous spherical particulate inorganic material deposits on said plate-like inorganic material; and, (vi) reacting said silanized material having functional groups “A” with said silanized material having functional groups “B”.

The present invention is directed to effect pigments with solvochromic properties. These effect pigments have a structure comprising a substrate in platelet form and a coating applied to the substrate, wherein the coating comprises: optionally a layer (1) comprising or consisting of at least one of tin oxide, tin hydroxide and/or tin oxide hydrate, a layer (2) comprising at least one of metal oxide, metal hydroxide and/or metal oxide hydrate, and a layer (3) comprising at least one of metal oxide, metal hydroxide and/or metal oxide hydrate, wherein the layers (2) and (3) comprise in their metal oxide, metal hydroxide and/or metal oxide hydrate in a majority two different metal ions from the group consisting of Ti, Fe, Sn or Zr and a further spacer layer (4) being located in between layers (2) and (3), wherein layer (4) has a porous structure comprising cavities and connectors. The solvochromic properties denote to the effect pigment having a first interference color under ambient atmosphere which changes reversibly to a second interference color, when the effect pigment comes into contact with a solvent.

Photonic pigments are disclosed, which include a plurality of magnetic nanorods assembled into tetragonal colloidal crystals.

A process for preparing whitened fly ash includes the steps of: (a) subjecting fly ash to a size classification step to obtain size classified fly ash having a particle size such that at least 90 wt % has a particle size of from 44 μm to 250 μm; (b) optionally, contacting the size classified fly ash from step (a) with water to form a slurry, wherein the slurry has a solid content of less than 40 wt %; (c) subjecting the slurry obtained in step (b) to an exhaustive magnetic separation step to form magnetically treated fly ash, wherein the exhaustive magnetic separation step includes a first magnetic extraction step and a second magnetic extraction step, wherein the second magnetic extraction step is carried out at a higher magnetic field strength than the first magnetic extraction step; and (d) subjecting the magnetically treated fly ash obtained in step (c) to milling to form whitened fly ash.

Thermoelectric (TE) nanocomposite material that includes at least one component consisting of nanocrystals. A TE nanocomposite material in accordance with the present invention can include, but is not limited to, multiple nanocrystalline structures, nanocrystal networks or partial networks, or multi-component materials, with some components forming connected interpenetrating networks including nanocrystalline networks. The TE nanocomposite material can be in the form of a bulk solid having semiconductor nanocrystallites that form an electrically conductive network within the material. In other embodiments, the TE nanocomposite material can be a nanocomposite thermoelectric material having one network of p-type or n-type semiconductor domains and a low thermal conductivity semiconductor or dielectric network or domains separating the p-type or n-type domains that provides efficient phonon scattering to reduce thermal conductivity while maintaining the electrical properties of the p-type or n-type semiconductor.

The present invention relates to a kit of parts comprising a surface-treated calcium carbonate-containing filler material and a peroxide agent for improving the mechanical properties of a polymer mixture comprising at least one polyethylene polymer and at least one polypropylene polymer, a filled polymer mixture, a process for the preparation of a filled polymer composition, a filled polymer composition obtained thereby or obtainable by reacting the filled polymer mixture, the use of a surface-treated calcium carbonate-containing filler material and a peroxide reagent for reacting a polymer composition comprising at least one polyethylene polymer and at least one polypropylene polymer, preferably thereby improving the mechanical properties of the polymer composition, as well as an article comprising the filled polymer mixture or the filled polymer composition.