Commitments and Contingencies (Details 2) (USD $)	12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended						1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011 Respirator Mask/Asbestos Litigation Claim Claimant	Dec. 31, 2010 Respirator Mask/Asbestos Litigation Claimant	Dec. 31, 2009 Respirator Mask/Asbestos Litigation	Dec. 31, 2011 Respirator Mask/Asbestos Litigation - State of West Virginia	Dec. 31, 2011 Respirator Mask/Asbestos litigation - Excluding Aearo Technologies	Dec. 31, 2011 Insurance Disclaimer Action Insurer	Dec. 31, 2011 Respirator Mask/Asbestos Litigation - Aearo Technologies	Dec. 31, 2011 Environmental Matters - Remediation PFC Y	Dec. 31, 2010 Environmental Matters - Remediation	Dec. 31, 2009 Environmental Matters - Remediation	Dec. 31, 2011 Environmental Matters - Regulatory Activities Y PFC	Dec. 31, 2011 Environmental Matters - Regulatory Activities Alabama Y DisposalSite Defendant	Dec. 31, 2011 Environmental Matters - Regulatory Activities Minnesota DisposalSite	Dec. 31, 2011 Environmental Matters - Litigation Morgan County, Alabama Claimant	Dec. 31, 2011 Environmental Matters - Litigation Lake Elmo, Minnesota	Dec. 31, 2011 Environmental Matters - Litigation Metropolitan Council, Minnesota TreatmentPlant	Jun. 30, 2009 Environmental Matters - Litigation New Jersey DisposalSite Defendant	Dec. 31, 2011 Environmental Matters - Other Environmental Liabilities Y	Dec. 31, 2010 Environmental Matters - Other Environmental Liabilities	Dec. 31, 2009 Environmental Matters - Other Environmental Liabilities	Dec. 31, 2011 Environmental Matters - Other Environmental Liabilities Minnesota DisposalSite
Loss contingencies
Accrued loss contingency reserve	$ 130,000,000	$ 126,000,000	$ 138,000,000				$ 30,000,000	$ 28,000,000	$ 24,000,000	$ 31,000,000								$ 75,000,000	$ 90,000,000	$ 117,000,000
Insurance receivables	121,000,000	122,000,000	143,000,000			14,000,000		15,000,000	15,000,000	15,000,000
Number of individual claimants	2,260	2,148
Number of total claims settled and taken to trial	9
Number of total claims tried to verdict	8
Number of total claims settled and tried to verdict	7
Number of total claims dismissed and being appealed	1
Number of additional defendants				2
Liability for asbestos and environmental claims gross-excluding Aearo Inc.					100,000,000
Number of insurers who filed a declaratory judgment action against the company						2
Number of the entity's insurers named in the action, low end of range						60
Annual fee paid to Cabot to retain responsibility and liability for products manufactured before July 11, 1995							400,000
Number of PFCs the EPA has proposed to have public water suppliers monitor								6			6
Number of years after phase-out decision in May 2000 that the Company stopped manufacturing and using vast majority of perfluorooctanyl compounds											2
Number of landfills to be tested by the entity pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding with the EPA												3
Wastewater treatment plant sludge containing PFCs surrounding Decatur facility (in years)												20
Number of sites where remediation work will continue into 2012													2
Total number of named plaintiffs, second purported class action														3
Number of subsidiaries of Toray Industries, Inc. allegedly involved in wastewater treatment plant sludge containing PFCs environmental litigation												2
Claim asserted for alleged contamination, low end															50,000	50,000
Number of wastewater treatment plants from which PFC-containing sludge and biosolids may be discharged, low end of range																1
Lower end of range of number of companies served with a complaint																	250
Number of companies, in addition to Maxus Energy, Tierra Solutions and Occidental Chemical involved in an enforcement action																	2
Total cost of clean-up proposed by the EPA, of which the Company believes its applicable share, if any, is likely to be a fraction of one percent																	1,000,000,000
Number of commercial waste disposal facilities used																	2
Number of years remediation payments expected to be paid for applicable sites, high end of range								20										5
Number of former disposal sites with PFC present in soil and groundwater in Washington County Minnesota																					2
Increase in insurance liabilities	39,000,000
Increase in insurance recovery receivable	8,000,000
Payments received in connection with respirator mask/asbestos receivable	$ 9,000,000