Patent ID: 6946510

Claim:
A process comprising: at least one of dispersing or grinding a mineral pigment, filler or combination thereof, in aqueous suspension in the presence of a water-soluble copolymer, wherein said water-soluble copolymer comprises polymerized units of a) at least one anionic monomer with an unsaturated ethylenic chain and a monocarboxylic function, b) optionally, at least one anionic monomer with an unsaturated ethylenic chain and a dicarboxylic, sulphonic, phosphoric, phosphonic function or a combination thereof, c) at least one non-ionic monomer having an unsaturated ethylenic chain of formula (I): in which m and p represent a number of alkylene oxide units and are less than or equal to 150, n represents a number of ethylene oxide units and is less than or equal to 150, q represents a number at least equal to 1 and 5≦( m+n+p ) q≦ 150 R 1 is hydrogen, methyl or ethyl radical, R 2 is hydrogen, methyl or ethyl radical, R is selected from the group consisting of acrylurethane, methacrylurethane, α-α′-dimethylisopropenylbenzyl urethane and allyl urethane, R′ represents a hydrocarbon radical having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, d) optionally, an acrylamide monomer, methacrylamide monomer, a derivative thereof or a mixture thereof, or one or more non water-soluble monomers, and e) optionally, at least one monomer having at least two unsaturated ethylenic chains selected from the group consisting of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, trimethylolpropane-triacrylate, allyl acrylate, allyl maleate, methylenebisacrylamide, methylenebismethacrylamide, tetrallyloxyethane, a triallylcyanurate, and an allyl ether obtained from a polyol, wherein the total of a), b), c), d) and e) is 100%, and wherein the copolymer has a specific viscosity of no more than 10.