Talc, Italian

If we exclude the case of the Italian talc, all the other distribution functions are bimodal and present a main peak at low energy around 17 kj/mole characteristic for the basal surface and a very weak peak at the highest energy at 27 kj/mole corresponding to lateral surfaces. It demonstrates that industrial talcs having low specific surface area exhibit mainly basal surfaces and that the difference in behaviour, as a specific filler for polyolefines origin certainly from other more macroscopic factors such as shape and size of... 

Italian talc - Italian talc has the reputation as being the world s purest. Virtually all the Italian talc imported into the US is a particularly high-purity, soft, cosmetic and pharmaceutical grade. 

Results of a survey of asbestos fibers in consumer cosmetic talc powders from Italian and international markets using electron microscopy, electron diffraction, and energy dispersive x-ray analysis showed that asbestos was detected in 6 of 14 talc samples from the European Pharmacopeia (Paoletti et al. 1984). Chrysotile was identified in 3 samples, 2 samples contained tremolite asbestos and anthophyllite asbestos, and 1 sample contained chrysotile and tremolite asbestos. The authors noted that, in all talc powders analyzed, fibrous talc particles frequently were present that were morphologically similar to amphibole asbestos fibers. Counting fibers as particles with aspect ratio >3 1 and width < 3 m, the percentages of particles that were asbestos fibers ranged from <0.03% to 0.13% for 4 samples, and were 18% to 22% for the other 2 samples. Paoletti et al. (1984) noted that the European Pharmacopeia, at that time, had not established analytical quality control of asbestos contamination. 

The purity of talc varies depending on the country of origin. For example, Italian types are reported to contain calcium silicate as the contaminant Indian types contain aluminum and iron oxides French types contain aluminum oxide and American types contain calcium carbonate (California), iron oxide (Montana), aluminum and iron oxides (North Carolina), or aluminum oxide (Alabama). 

Talc is mined and produced in large quantities in the United States (mostly in Montana, New York, Texas, and Vermont). Talc is also found in abundance in Canada, China, Japan, the Italian Alps, the French Pyrenees, Russia, Brazil, and South Korea. The supply of talc is rather large and is projected to meet the growth in demand. 

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