Method of making lamellar sheets of fluorphlogopite mica

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR RECONSTITUTING A CRYSTALLINE, TRANSPARENT, SMOOTH LAMELLAR FLUORPHLOGOPITE MICA FROM SYNTHETIC FLUOROPHLOGOPITE WHICH COMPRISES THE STEPS OF HEATING THE SYNTHETIC FLUORPHLOGOPITE TO REMOVE ANY MOISTURE ABSORBED THEREON COMMINUTING THE DRIED SYNTHETIC FLUOROPHLOGOPITE WITH A HIGH SPEED CUTTING BLADE IN A LIQUID MEDIUM SELELCTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF PURE ANHYDOROUS N-AMYL ALCOHOL, 2 ETHYL HEXANOL, ISOBUTYL ALCOHOL, AND ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL, TO FORM A MIXTURE YIELDING PARTICLES SUBSTANTIALLY ALL OF WHICH ARE OF THE ORDER OF ABOUT 5 TO 25 MICRONS IN THEIR LARGEST DIMENSION AND EXHIBIT SMOOTH SURFACES AND EDGES, DILUTING THE COMMINUTED MIXTURE TO APPROXIMATELY DOUBLE ITS ORIGINAL VOLUME WITH AN ADDITIONAL AMOUNT OF SAID LIQUID MEDIUM, FORMING LAYERS HAVING PARTICLES OF DIFFERENT SIZE RANGES WITH RESPECT TO THEIR LARGEST DIMENSION BY ALLOWING THE DILUTED MIXTURE TO STAND, ONE OF SAID LAYERS CONTAINING SAID PARTICLES IN THE 5 TO 25 MICRON RANGE, SEPARATING SAID ONE LAYER AND FURTHER DILUTING SAME WITH MORE OF SAID LIQUID MEDIUM TO FORM A SUSPENSION OF APPROXIMATELY 10 TO 400 GRAMS OF FLUOROPHLOGOPITE PARTICLES PER LITER OF SAID LIQUID MEDIUM, POURING SAID SUSPENSION INTO AN ELECTROPHORETIC DEPOSITION CELL, IMMERSING A CATHODE BETWEEN THE PARALLEL SURFACES OF A U-SHAPED ANODE, SAID ANODE AND CATHODE BEING VERTICALLY DISPOSED AND HAVING OPPOSED PARALLEL FLAT SURFACES, AGITATING THE SUSPENSION TO PROVIDE MAXIMUM NON-TRIBULENT FLOW PARALLEL TO SAID FLAT SURFACES, APPLYING A VOLTAGE BETWEEN SAID CATHODE AND SAID ANODE TO YIELD A CURRENT DENSITY OF 0.01 TO 3 MILLIAMPERES PER SQUARE INCH OF CATHODE SURFACES FOR A PERIOD OF ABOUT 5 SECONDS TO 1 HOUR UNTIL A DEPOSIT OF FLUORPHLOGOPITE PARTICLES IS FORMED ON SAID FLAT SURFACES OF SAID CATHODE, SLOWLY AIR DRYING SAID DEPOSIT AND STRIPPING THE DRIED DEPOSIT FROM SAID CATHODE BY THE APPLICATION OF HEAT THERETO.