Patent ID: 7901731

Claim:
A method of forming a detachable and renewable protective coating on a receptive surface comprising the steps of: A. applying a treatment composition to said receptive surface, said treatment composition comprising a plurality of hydrophobically modified fumed silica particles colloidally dispersed in a volatile solvent; wherein the treatment composition is obtained by a process comprising the steps of: (a) providing a pre-dispersion of silica particles comprising hydrophobically modified fumed silica particles by stirring said silica particles into a solution comprising: (i) at least one compound of general formula (I) or (II): (R1R2R3Si)2NR4 (I) —(R1R2SiNR4)m-(cyclo) (II) wherein R1, R2 and R3 can be the same or different, and are independently selected from hydrogen, straight or branched, saturated or unsaturated alkyl chain groups of from 1 to 8 carbon atoms, or aromatic groups of from 6 to 12 carbon atoms, R4 is hydrogen or a methyl group, and m is from 3 to 8; and (ii) a first volatile solvent or solvent mixture selected from straight or branched, linear or cyclic aliphatic, or aromatic hydrocarbons with 2 to 14 carbon atoms, monovalent linear or branched alcohols with 1 to 6 carbon atoms, ketones or aldehydes with 1 to 6 carbon atoms, ethers or esters with 2 to 8 carbon atoms, or linear or cyclic polydimethylsiloxanes with 2 to 10 dimethylsiloxy units, wherein the concentration of the hydrophobically modified fumed silica particles in the pre-dispersion results in from 10 percent to about 30 percent by weight of the total weight of the pre-dispersion, and wherein the concentration of any one of compounds (I) and/or (II) is between 0.1 and 10 percent by weight of the total weight of the pre-dispersion; and (b) mixing with a disperser said pre-dispersion to provide a process composition while reducing said silica particles to a median particle size in the range between 100 and 4000 nanometers; B. allowing said volatile solvent to evaporate from said receptive surface; and C. thereby depositing said protective coating on said receptive surface, wherein said protective coating provides dirt- and water-repellency to said receptive surface, wherein said detachable coating is substantially transparent and results in a change of less than 250 Delta Haze units to said receptive surface measured before and after deposition of said coating, as measured by the Chrome Test.