Process for producing a fibrous titanium dioxide containing material

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING INORGANIC FLEXIBLE FIBROUS MATERIAL WHICH COMPRISES CALCINING AT A TEMPERATURE OF FROM ABOUT 800* TO 950*C. A FIBROUS ALKALI DEFICIENT METAL TITANTE BEING AT LEAST 50 MOLE PERCENT DEFICIENT IN ALKALI AND HAVING THE FORMULA C2O(TIO2)4-9 WHEREIN C REPRESENTS A MIXED CATION SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF SODIUM, POTASSIUM, RUBIDIUM, CESIUM, HYDROGEN AND H3O+ AND COMBINATIONS THEREOF, WITH THE PROVISO THAT AT LEAST ONE METAL CATION IS ALWAYS PRESENT THEREBY PRODUCING A COMPOSITION OF MATTER HAVING THE FORMULA (M2O)1/X(TIO2)6 WHEREIN X HAS A VALUE GREATER THAN ONE AND M REPRESENTS AN ALKALI METAL SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF SODIUM, POTASSIUM, RUBIDIUM, CESIUM AND COMBINATIONS THEREOF, THE ALKALI OXIDE BEING PRESENT IN THE FIBER IN AN AMOUNT OF FROM 0.1 TO 10% BY WEIGHT EXPRESSED AS M2O, THE FIBROUS TITANIUM DIOXIDE HAS AN X-RAY PATTERN CHARACTERISTIC OF THE CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURES OF THE ANATASE AND RUTILE FORMS AND SAID ALKALI METAL DEFICIENT TITANATE IS PREPARED BY TREATING FIBROUS ALKALI METAL TITANATES WITH AN ACIDIC AGENT IN ORDER TO REMOVE ALKALI.