Reflective particulate compositions including a particulate mixture having improved hardness, methods of making the same, and methods for analyzing particulate mixture strength

Abstract

A reflective granular composition including a reflective pigment material including a majority of kaolin clay and a hardening additive including a sodium salt or another salt. A method for making a reflective granular composition includes the steps of mixing together a reflective pigment material including a majority of kaolin clay and a hardening additive including a sodium salt or another salt to form a particulate mixture, forming a slurry from the particulate mixture by adding to the particulate mixture water and a binder material, granulating the slurry, drying the granulated slurry, and kilning the dried, granulated slurry to form the reflective granular composition. Methods of analyzing the strength of a reflective granular composition are also disclosed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.