The invention relates to coated effect pigments, wherein the coating comprises a binder which is suitable for powder paints. They comprise a crystalline and an amorphous fraction which is determined by C.sup.13 NMR MAS relaxation measurements, the relaxation of the .sup.13C cores being fitted as a biexponential relaxation according to the formula (II) and the degree of crystallinity c being in a range between 40 to 85%, and relaxation having a short average relaxation time T.sub.1.sup.S and a long average relaxation time T.sub.1.sup.l, and T.sub.1.sup.l being in a range of from 65 to 130 s. The effect pigments coated according to the invention have at least one endothermic peak with a maximum from a range of T.sub.max=100 to 150° C. and an enthalpy ΔH associated with said peak from a range of 15 J/g to 80 J/g in DSC at a feed speed of 5° C./min, the enthalpy being calculated relative to the amount of the binder. The binders are applied to the effect pigment by way of spontaneous precipitation.

Provided is a fine particle production apparatus and a fine particle production method capable of easily obtaining surface treated fine particles. The fine particle production apparatus produces fine particles using feedstock by means of a gas-phase process. The apparatus includes a treatment section configured to transform the feedstock into a mixture in a gas phase state by means of the gas-phase process, a feedstock supply section configured to supply the feedstock to the treatment section, a cooling section configured to cool the mixture in a gas phase state in the treatment section using a quenching gas containing an inert gas, and a supply section configured to supply a surface treating agent to fine particle bodies in a temperature region in which the surface treating agent is not denatured, the fine particle bodies being produced by cooling the mixture in the gas phase state with the quenching gas.

To provide a metal particle composition having excellent oxidation resistance, which does not require a transition metal catalyst and can be applied to existing metal particles, a method for producing the metal particle composition, and a paste. The metal particle composition contains, with respect to 100 parts by mass of metal particles, 0.1 to 5 parts by mass of a compound (A) having a structure represented by the following general formula (I):

##STR00001## in which R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, an alkenyl group having 2 to 6 carbon atoms, an aryl group, or an aralkyl group, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, an alkoxy group, an alkenyl group having 2 to 6 carbon atoms, an alkenyloxy group, an aryl group, or an aralkyl group.

The invention relates to an encapsulated metal particle comprising a core encapsulated in a shell, wherein the core comprises a metallic substance, and wherein the shell comprises a insulating substance. The invention also relates to a polymer composition comprising a plurality of the encapsulated metal particles, a mixture comprising a plurality of encapsulated metal particles and plurality of polymer particles, and the use of the encapsulated metal particle as an additive for increasing the thermal conductivity and/or radio frequency (RF) conductivity of a matrix substance such as an adhesive.

A method is disclosed for producing flakes of a first material, the method comprising: a) supporting two supply cylinders of the first material and a fatiguing rod assembly, that includes at least one textured fatiguing rod, so that each fatiguing rod is sandwiched between the two cylinders, each fatiguing rod having a diameter smaller than an initial diameter of the two supply cylinders and being made of a second harder material; b) urging the surfaces of the two supply cylinders into contact with each fatiguing rod; and c) causing the supply cylinders and the fatiguing rod(s) to rotate while making rolling line contact with one another; wherein the supply cylinders and each fatiguing rod are urged against one another with sufficiently high contact pressure to modify the surface of the supply cylinders by fatigue and result in separation of flakes from the surfaces of the cylinders.

There is disclosed a functional lamellar particle including an unconverted portion of the lamellar particle, wherein the unconverted portion includes a first metal, a converted portion of the lamellar particle disposed external to a surface of the unconverted portion, wherein the converted portion includes a chemical compound of the first metal; and a functional coating disposed external to a surface of the converted portion.

Provided is a thermal compound composition having heat dissipation and electrical insulation properties, where the thermal compound composition includes a Cu—CuO composite filler having a Cu core and a shell composed of CuO having a whisker crystal structure. The CuO having the whisker crystal structure is prepared by reacting Cu particles in a basic solution so that an outer shell thereof is grown into whisker-shaped CuO.

The invention relates to copper-containing metal pigments, wherein the copper-containing metal pigments have an elemental copper content of at least 50 wt.-%, relative to the total weight of the uncoated copper-containing metal pigment, wherein the copper-containing metal pigments have at least one enveloping metal oxide layer and at least one enveloping chemically non-reactive plastic layer, wherein the sum of the amounts of the at least one chemically non-reactive plastic layer and of the at least one metal oxide layer lies in a range of from 10 to 50 wt.-%, relative to the weight of the uncoated metal pigment, and the weight ratio of the at least one metal oxide layer to the at least one chemically non-reactive plastic layer lies in a range of from 1:2 to 1:20. The invention furthermore relates to a method for producing these pigments and the use thereof.

There is disclosed a functional lamellar particle including an unconverted portion of the lamellar particle, wherein the unconverted portion includes a first metal, a converted portion of the lamellar particle disposed external to a surface of the unconverted portion, wherein the converted portion includes a chemical compound of the first metal; and a functional coating disposed external to a surface of the converted portion.

There is provided conductive paste excellent in electro-conductivity and thermal conductivity. Conductive paste comprising conductive filler being composite particles including copper powder and nanosize precipitates which are disposed on the surface of the copper powder and composed of at least one kind of transition metal belonging to the group 8 to group 10 of the periodic table or a compound of the transition metal, and a binder resin.