Business realignment costs

No definition available.

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- Definition

Interest-bearing time deposits and other cash equivalents

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount of write-down of assets recognized in the income statement. Includes, but is not limited to, losses from tangible assets, intangible assets and goodwill.

+ References

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- Definition

For an entity that discloses a concentration risk in relation to quantitative amount, which serves as the "benchmark" (or denominator) in the equation, this concept represents the concentration percentage derived from the division.

+ References

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-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

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- Definition

The amount of expense recognized in the current period that reflects the allocation of the cost of tangible assets over the assets' useful lives. Includes production and non-production related depreciation.

+ References

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- Definition

Useful life of finite-lived intangible assets, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount before tax of foreign currency transaction realized and unrealized gain (loss) recognized in the income statement.

+ References

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- Definition

Amount of loss from the write-down of an asset representing the future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

+ References

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- Definition

Amount of valuation reserve for inventory.

+ References

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- Definition

Useful life of long lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days. Examples include, but not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

The aggregate costs incurred (1) in a planned search or critical investigation aimed at discovery of new knowledge with the hope that such knowledge will be useful in developing a new product or service, a new process or technique, or in bringing about a significant improvement to an existing product or process; or (2) to translate research findings or other knowledge into a plan or design for a new product or process or for a significant improvement to an existing product or process whether intended for sale or the entity's use, during the reporting period charged to research and development projects, including the costs of developing computer software up to the point in time of achieving technological feasibility, and costs allocated in accounting for a business combination to in-process projects deemed to have no alternative future use.

+ References

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- Definition

Investments which are intended to be sold in the short term (usually less than one year or the normal operating cycle, whichever is longer) including trading securities, available-for-sale securities, held-to-maturity securities, and other short-term investments not otherwise listed in the existing taxonomy.

+ References

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- Definition

The remaining balance of debt issuance expenses that were capitalized and are being amortized against income over the lives of the respective bond issues. This does not include the amounts capitalized as part of the cost of the utility plant or asset.

+ References

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Significant Accounting Policies Level 4 (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Foreign Currency Transaction Gain (Loss), before Tax		$ 33	$ 2	$ 1
Interest-bearing time deposits and other cash equivalents		46	29
Short-term investments		7us-gaap_ShortTermInvestments	7us-gaap_ShortTermInvestments
Inventory Valuation Reserves		8us-gaap_InventoryValuationReserves	8us-gaap_InventoryValuationReserves
Unamortized Debt Issuance Expense		66us-gaap_UnamortizedDebtIssuanceExpense	78us-gaap_UnamortizedDebtIssuanceExpense
Depreciation		130us-gaap_Depreciation	135us-gaap_Depreciation	140us-gaap_Depreciation
Asset Impairment Charges	5us-gaap_AssetImpairmentCharges	5us-gaap_AssetImpairmentCharges	124us-gaap_AssetImpairmentCharges	23us-gaap_AssetImpairmentCharges
Goodwill, Impairment Loss		57us-gaap_GoodwillImpairmentLoss
Research and Development Expense		72us-gaap_ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense	73us-gaap_ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense	69us-gaap_ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense
Business realignment costs		47msc_BusinessRealignmentCosts	21msc_BusinessRealignmentCosts	35msc_BusinessRealignmentCosts
Concentration Risk, Percentage		10.00%us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskPercentage1
EPCD [Member] \| Long-Lived Assets Held and Used - Qualitative Factors to Fair Value Measures [Member]
Asset Impairment Charges				(15)
FPD [Member] \| Long-Lived Assets Held and Used - Qualitative Factors to Fair Value Measures [Member]
Asset Impairment Charges				(6)
FPD [Member] \| Long-Lived Assets Held and Used - Qualitative Factors to Fair Value Measures - Customer Loss [Member]
Asset Impairment Charges				$ (2)
Building [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life		20 years
Machinery and Equipment [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life		15 years
Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life		1 year
Finite-Lived Intangible Asset, Useful Life		1 year
Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life		5 years
Finite-Lived Intangible Asset, Useful Life		30 years