Water-dispersible silicone resins

1. A process for preparing an aqueous dispersion of a silicone resin comprising:

I) reacting a mixture containing:

a) 80 to 99.9% by weight of an alkylalkoxysilane of the formula

R 1 a Si(OR 2 ) 4-a

b) 0.1 to 20% by weight of a cationic alkoxysilane of the formula

R 3 b R 4 Si(OR 5 ) 3-b

where:

R 1 is an alkyl group containing 1 to 30 carbon atoms,

R 2 and R 5 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl groups containing 1 to 4 carbon atoms, CH 3 C(O)—, CH 3 CH 2 C(O)—, HOCH 2 CH 2 —, CH 3 OCH 2 CH 2 —, and C 2 H 5 OCH 2 CH 2 —,

R 3 is an alkyl group containing 1 to 4 carbons,

R 4 is a monovalent hydrocarbon having at least one quaternary ammonium group substituent,

a is 1 or 2,

b is 0, 1 or 2,

under an inert atmosphere at reflux temperature, and then subsequently to a temperature ranging from 120-140° C. to form a reaction product comprising a silicone resin; and

II) combining 5 to 95 wt % of the reaction product of step I) with 5 to 95 wt % of water to form an aqueous dispersion,

wherein the aqueous dispersion does not contain further surfactants and co-surfactants.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein aqueous hydrochloric acid is used to effect the reaction.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the reaction product of step I) comprises an organopolysiloxane resin having an empirical formula of:

R

c

4

⁢

R

d

6

⁢

Si

⁡

(

OZ

)

e

⁢

(

O

)

4

-

c

-

d

-

e

2

where

R 4 is as defined above,

R 6 is R 3 or R 1 as defined above,

Z is a hydrogen atom, R 2 or R 5

c=0.0012 to 0.25,

d=0.4988 to 1.8

with the proviso that c+d may range from 0.5 to 1.8 and, e may range from 0.0 to 3.0.