Process for delamination of layered silicates

A process for delamination of a synthetic or naturally occurring 2:1 clay mineral layered silicate in an aqueous medium, the process comprising:

• treating a synthetic or naturally occurring 2:1 clay mineral layered silicate with a delamination agent, the layered silicate having a layer charge Lc greater than or equal to 0.25 and less than or equal to 1.0 and a charge equivalent area As of 47.6 Å2/(2 Lc),
• contacting the treated layered silicate with an aqueous medium,
• wherein the delamination agent
• i. is an ionic compound having exactly one positively charged atom, the positively charged atom being nitrogen or phosphorous;
• ii. contains of functional groups covalently bonded to the positively charged atom and including any one or more of a hydroxyl group, an ether group, a sulfonic acid ester group, or a carboxylic acid ester group, of being a number from 1 to 10;
• iii. comprises a total number of carbon atoms nc being from 2 to 20;
• iv. has a ratio nc/(1+nf) from 1 to 5;
• and
• v. has a charge equivalent area Ad being from at least 0.90-fold to 2.00-fold 3 of the charge equivalent area of the layered silicate As;
• and wherein
• the delamination agent is used to treat the layered silicate in an amount of at least equal to the cation exchange capacity of the layered silicate,
• with the proviso that of is greater than or equal to 2, if Lc is less than or equal to 0.6.