News Release Details

New Aerogel Matting Agent To Premiere at 2008 American Coatings Show, June 3-5, Booth #1766

BOSTON, June 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cabot Corporation's Aerogel business (NYSE: CBT) will introduce Nanogel(R) aerogel TLD201, a new matting agent consisting of fine particle aerogel material, at the 2008 American Coatings Show, June 3-5, at the Charlotte Convention Center in North Carolina, USA. The Nanogel TLD201 matting agent is specifically designed for applications requiring high performance, such as ultra-low gloss or thermally insulative coatings. Cabot Aerogel is located at exhibit booth # 1766.

This is the North American launch of Nanogel TLD201 as a matting agent. TLD201 has been available in Europe for several years, where it has been successfully tested and formulated in coatings for wood, metal and other substrates. The material is manufactured exclusively by Cabot using its patented processes, resulting in properties that provide a unique combination of outstanding matting performance, rheology modification, moisture resistance and thermal insulation.

Nanogel TLD201 is the latest addition to Cabot's family of fine-particle aerogel manufactured from amorphous silica that is chemically treated to create a highly hydrophobic material. This aerogel material has pore volumes and surface areas that range from 100 to 400 percent higher than conventional silicas.

"The extraordinary properties of Nanogel TLD201 offer advantages traditional silicas cannot, therefore, I recommend it as an ultra-low gloss solution to all of my clients faced with difficult-to-matte, such as UV-cured, formulations," said Peter Ramsgard, from Bjorn Thorsen A/S, a distributor of raw materials to coatings manufacturers.

The structure, low density, and tailored particle size of Nanogel aerogel TLD201 produce highly effective matting performance through light scattering on the surface of the coating. As a result, there is a significant reduction of gloss even in difficult-to-matte coatings. With Nanogel TLD201, it is possible to go beyond current low-gloss specification limits while maintaining a workable viscosity range. The effectiveness of TLD201 also allows addition levels to be significantly reduced without compromising matting performance.

Other benefits include scratch resistance, resistance to water and corrosion, weatherability, reduced haziness and sedimentation, and increased flexibility. It can be used in aqueous, 100 percent solids and solvent-based formulations without special equipment or altering standard manufacturing processes. Additionally, TLD201 can also be easily blended with other silica-based matting agents or waxes to suit certain formulations.

TLD201 also performs well as a high-performance thermal insulator in coatings formulations, allowing thermal conductivity to be reduced or a coating's thickness to be minimized, depending on the application. In these applications, Nanogel aerogel is stable at high temperatures and also provides resistance to moisture, corrosion and weathering. It can be supplied in various particle sizes to meet a range of film thicknesses.

Key characteristics include:

• High surface area
• High porosity
• Surface chemistry -- hydrophobic
• Tailored particle size
• Low density
• Low thermal conductivity
• Green manufacturing process and final product

About Nanogel Aerogel

Nanogel is Cabot's trade name for the aerogel manufactured at their state-of-the-art plant in Frankfurt, Germany, using a commercialized process that allows the material's porosity, pore size and distribution to be accurately controlled. It is the lightest weight solid and one of the best thermal insulators in the world. Cabot produces a variety of opaque and translucent grades for use in coatings, daylighting systems, pipeline insulation, LNG and cryogenic insulation, apparel and personal care products.

About Cabot Corporation

Cabot Aerogel is a business unit of Cabot Corporation, a global specialty chemicals and materials company headquartered in Boston, MA. Cabot's major products are carbon black, fumed silica, inkjet colorants, capacitor materials, aerogel, and cesium formate drilling fluids. The website address is: http://www.nanogel.com.

SOURCE Cabot Corporation

CONTACT: Hilary Thorne Banda, Marketing Communications Manager of Cabot
Aerogel, +1-978-670-6113, Fax, +1-978-670-7045, hilary_banda@cabot-corp.com
Web site: http://www.cabot-corp.com
http://www.nanogel.com
(CBT)