Long-Term Debt - Additional Information (Detail)	12 Months Ended									12 Months Ended																														0 Months Ended	11 Months Ended				11 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended			0 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Joint Venture Jordan Bromine Company Limited USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Joint Venture Jordan Bromine Company Limited USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Joint Venture Jordan Bromine Company Limited Construction Borrowings Related To Foreign Plant USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Joint Venture Jordan Bromine Company Limited Construction Borrowings Related To Foreign Plant USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Joint Venture Jordan Bromine Company Limited Short-term Debt USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Joint Venture Jordan Bromine Company Limited Short-term Debt USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 1.875% Senior Notes USD ($)	Dec. 08, 2014 1.875% Senior Notes EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2014 Commercial Paper USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 5.10% Senior Notes	Dec. 31, 2013 5.10% Senior Notes	Jan. 20, 2005 5.10% Senior Notes USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 4.50% Senior Notes	Dec. 31, 2013 4.50% Senior Notes	Dec. 10, 2010 4.50% Senior Notes USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 3.00% Senior Notes	Nov. 24, 2014 3.00% Senior Notes USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 4.15% Senior Notes	Nov. 24, 2014 4.15% Senior Notes USD ($)	Jan. 22, 2014 4.15% Senior Notes payment	Dec. 31, 2014 5.45% Senior Notes	Nov. 24, 2014 5.45% Senior Notes USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Twenty Fourteen Senior Notes, Term Loan and Revolving Credit Facility USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Domestic Financial Institution Agreement USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Domestic Financial Institution Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 Domestic Financial Institution Agreement	Dec. 31, 2014 Foreign Credit Line U.S. Dollar- Euro Denominated Borrowings USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Foreign Credit Line U.S. Dollar- Euro Denominated Borrowings USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Yen Denominated Credit Lines USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Yen Denominated Credit Lines JPY (¥)	Dec. 31, 2013 Yen Denominated Credit Lines USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Other Foreign Credit Lines USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Other Foreign Credit Lines Foreign Subsidiaries USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Minimum Joint Venture Jordan Bromine Company Limited Construction Borrowings Related To Foreign Plant	Dec. 31, 2014 Maximum Joint Venture Jordan Bromine Company Limited Construction Borrowings Related To Foreign Plant	May 29, 2013 Maximum Commercial Paper USD ($)	Feb. 07, 2014 Revolving Credit Facility	Dec. 31, 2014 Revolving Credit Facility	Dec. 22, 2014 Revolving Credit Facility USD ($)	Feb. 07, 2014 Revolving Credit Facility USD ($)	Sep. 22, 2011 Revolving Credit Facility USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Revolving Credit Facility Minimum	Dec. 31, 2014 Revolving Credit Facility Maximum	Jan. 12, 2015 Subsequent Event Rockwood Holdings, Inc. Revolving Credit Facility	Dec. 31, 2014 Bridge Loan USD ($)	Dec. 02, 2014 Bridge Loan Senior Unsecured Cash Bridge Facility USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Short-term Debt Term Loan	Aug. 15, 2014 Short-term Debt Term Loan	Aug. 15, 2014 Short-term Debt Term Loan USD ($)	Aug. 15, 2014 Short-term Debt Minimum Term Loan	Aug. 15, 2014 Short-term Debt Maximum Term Loan	Dec. 31, 2014 Interest Rate Swap JP Morgan USD ($)	Jan. 22, 2014 Interest Rate Swap JP Morgan USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 Forward Contracts USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Forward Contracts USD ($)	Dec. 02, 2014 Federal funds rate [Member] Bridge Loan Senior Unsecured Cash Bridge Facility	Dec. 02, 2014 London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) [Member] Bridge Loan Senior Unsecured Cash Bridge Facility	Nov. 24, 2014 Net Investment Hedge Forward Contracts tranche	Nov. 24, 2014 Net Investment Hedge Forward Contracts EUR (€)
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Aggregate annual maturities of long-term debt, 2015	$ 711,100,000
Aggregate annual maturities of long-term debt, 2016	0
Aggregate annual maturities of long-term debt, 2017	0
Aggregate annual maturities of long-term debt, 2018	0
Aggregate annual maturities of long-term debt, 2019	258,300,000
Aggregate annual maturities of long-term debt, thereafter	1,975,900,000
Interest rate margin																																									1.30%				0.90%	1.50%				1.50%			1.125%	2.00%					0.50%	1.00%
Debt covenant ratio, maximum debt to EBITDA																																								3.50							4.50				4.50
Debt covenant ratio, maximum debt to EBITDA, quarterly reduction following completion of merger, number of quarters																																															4
Debt covenant ratio, maximum debt to EBITDA, quarterly reduction following completion of merger																																															0.25
Debt covenant																																											20.00%
Commercial paper classified as current	367,178,000											367,200,000																											750,000,000.0
Principal amount of debt											700,000,000.0				325,000,000.0			350,000,000.0		250,000,000.0		425,000,000.0			350,000,000.0
Debt instrument, interest rate								1.47%		1.875%	1.875%		5.10%	5.10%	5.10%	4.50%	4.50%	4.50%	3.00%	3.00%	4.15%	4.15%		5.45%	5.45%												2.09%	5.50%
Interest rate of debt, effective percentage											2.10%				5.19%			4.70%		3.18%		5.06%			5.50%
Derivative, notional amount	479,900,000	321,400,000																																																						325,000,000.0	479,900,000	321,400,000				700,000,000.0
Derivative, fixed interest rate																																																								3.281%
Payment for settlement of interest rate swap	33,425,000	0	0																																																				33,400,000
Interest rate cash flow hedge gain (loss) to be reclassified during next 12 months	3,300,000
Number of tranches																																																													2
Derivative notional amount per tranche																																																														350,000,000.0
Other comprehensive income (loss) before reclassifications, before tax										12,800,000																																															5,200,000
Revolving credit facility, maximum borrowing capacity																											60,000,000			48,000,000	48,000,000	37,300,000	4,500,000,000.0		67,800,000	60,000,000						1,000,000,000.0	750,000,000.0	750,000,000.0
Weighted average interest rate												0.79%
Bridge loan fees																																																19,000,000
Bridge loan fees expensed in period																																																16,700,000
Deferred financing costs incurred - 2014 Sr. Notes, Term Loan and Revolving Credit Facility																										18,900,000
Debt financing costs paid	17,644,000	108,000	0
Average interest rate on borrowings																												0.89%	1.49%			0.50%	0.50%	0.52%
Borrowings outstanding under credit facility																																8,300,000		16,400,000
Revolving senior credit facility, remaining borrowings	632,800,000
Total long-term debt	2,934,131,000	1,078,864,000		18,800,000	26,400,000	2,000,000	7,900,000	16,800,000	18,500,000
Additional borrowing capacity amount				$ 7,600,000																																													$ 1,150,000,000			$ 1,000,000,000.0
Number of semi annual coupon payments																							20