Focke, Walter & Dan, Molefe & Labuschagne, Johan & Ramjee, Shatish. (2009).

The
influence of stearic acid coating on the properties of magnesium hydroxide,
hydromagnesite, and hydrotalcite powders. Journal of Materials Science. 44. 6100-
6109. 10.1007/s10853-009-3844-6. Hydrated filler-type flame retardants were coated
with approximately a monolayer of stearic acid using a solvent technique.
Compared to the uncoated powders, the BET surface area was lower, the powder
packing density was improved, and the thickening
effect on white oil was significantly reduced. The latter two observations are
rationalized in terms of a reduction in the
attractive interactions between the powder particles. The viscosity of white oil
slurries containing 25wt% solids showed
shear-thinning non-Newtonian behavior. The coated powders showed significantly
lower viscosities at low shear rates although
the difference diminished at high shear rates. The lower viscosities shown by the
coated powders indicate that the surface
modification facilitated the break-up of agglomerates and the dispersion of
individual particles in the fluid.