A pigment granule having an irregular polyhedral shape with rounded edges and a method for the production of the granules by the use of a high speed agitated granulating machine provided with agitating means for agitating a pigment substance for granulation, spray means for spraying or injecting a binding liquid on the pigment substance while the mixture is processed through the turbulizer and drying means for drying the particles, characterized by effecting the production by causing the means to act on the substance for granulation simultaneously thereby performing the agitating and granulation.

Conductive thick film compositions compatible to aluminum nitride, alumina and silicon nitride substrates for microelectronic circuit application. The conductive thick film composition includes first copper powder, second copper powder, and glass component. The conductive thick film composition further includes CU.sub.2O, Ag, and at least one metal element selected from Ti, V, Zr, Mn, Cr, Co, and Sn. After firing, the conductive thick film composition exhibit improved sheet resistivity, and improved adhesion with underlying substrate.

A zinc oxide powder in which a BET specific surface area (X) of the powder is 1.5 m.sup.2/g or more and 65 m.sup.2/g or less, a value obtained by a formula: an apparent specific volume (mL/g) measured by a loose packing method of the zinc oxide powder/an apparent specific volume (mL/g) measured by a tapping method of the zinc oxide powder is 1.5 or more and 2.5 or less, and Formula (1) and Formula (2) shown below are satisfied.

A1/E2=aX+0.06  (1)

(M2−M1)/E2≥0.02  (2)

A composition of matter includes a liquid and nanoparticles suspended in the liquid. The nanoparticles each include silica, alumina, and an organosilicon functional group having a molecular weight of at least 200. A method includes functionalizing a surface of nanoparticles with an organosilicon functional group and dispersing the nanoparticles in a liquid to form a suspension. The functional group has a molecular weight of at least 200. The nanoparticles each include silica and alumina at a surface thereof.

The invention has for its object to use an evaporation-spray drying process thereby providing layered silicate powder granules, each one containing a flat particle having an opening or recess in its surface center. Each of the layered silicate powder granule contains a flat particle including a layered silicate formed by evaporation-spray drying and a rheology modifier for modifying the crystal edge face of the layered silicate and having an opening or recess in its surface center.

An emulsion composition includes an acrylic polymer, a metal silicate, and water. Advantageously, the emulsion composition provides coatings with superior adhesion of coatings to a concrete, clay, or ceramic substrate. In particular, the emulsion composition provides improved adhesion of the silicate primer to the concrete, clay, or ceramic substrate and strong cohesion between the primer and top coat paint allow for a much better overall performance. A method for applying the emulsion composition is also provided.

The present invention aims to provide a method of producing a fine particulate inorganic oxide dispersion, which makes it possible to easily disperse a fine particulate inorganic oxide while reducing the amount of dispersant used. The present invention relates to a method of producing a fine particulate inorganic oxide dispersion, the method including mixing the following components (A) to (D): (A) at least one fine particulate inorganic oxide selected from the group consisting of zirconium oxide (ZrO.sub.2), titanium oxide (TiO.sub.2), and barium titanate (BaTiO.sub.3), (B) a dispersant, (C) an alkoxysilane compound, and (D) a solvent having the following Hansen solubility parameters: a hydrogen bonding component (dH) of 11 or less and a polar component (dP) of 4 or more; and wet grinding the resulting mixture.

A dispersion liquid contains antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) particles and a solvent, a content of the antimony-doped tin oxide particles is 40% by mass or more, a volume average particle diameter of the antimony-doped tin oxide particles is 90 nm or less, and, in a color space by the L*a*b* color system, an L* value is 13.0 or less, an a* value is −2.0 or more and 0.0 or less, and a b* value is −13.0 or more and −10.0 or less.

A method for increasing a detection distance of a surface of an object illuminated by near-IR electromagnetic radiation, including: (a) directing near-IR electromagnetic radiation from a near-IR electromagnetic radiation source towards an object at least partially coated with a near-IR reflective coating that increases a near-IR electromagnetic radiation detection distance by at least 15% as measured at a wavelength in a near-IR range as compared to the same object coated with a color matched coating which absorbs more of the same near-IR radiation, where the color matched coating has a ΔE color matched value of 1.5 or less when compared to the near-IR reflective coating; and (b) detecting reflected near-IR electromagnetic radiation reflected from the near-IR reflective coating. A system for detecting proximity of vehicles is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to the technical domain of additives for aqueous high solids suspensions of mineral materials. The inventive additive comprises specific primary amines and is used for increasing the pH-value of the suspension and/or for increasing the wettability of the mineral materials.