Tag: boron

What is boron Boron is a chemical element, and its symbol is B. Boron is a black or silver-gray solid. The content of boron in the earth’s crust is 0.001%. Crystal boron is black, the hardness is second only to diamond, and the texture is brittle. Boron is named Boron, its name is derived from Arabic, the original meaning is “flux”. It shows that the ancient Arabs already knew that borax had the ability to melt metal oxides and was used as a flux in welding.
Preparation of Boron
Firstly, sodium metaborate is obtained by decomposing magnesium borate with concentrated alkali solution, crystallizing NaBO2 in strong alkali solution, making it dissolve in water to become a more concentrated solution, adjusting the alkalinity by passing CO2 and concentrating the crystallization to obtain sodium tetraborate. Dissolve sodium tetraborate in water and adjust the acidity with sulfuric acid to precipitate the boric acid crystals with small solubility. After heating, the boric acid is dehydrated to produce boron trioxide, and after drying, crude boron is obtained by reducing B2O3 with magnesium or aluminum. The crude boron is treated with hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, and hydrogen fluoride, respectively, to obtain brown amorphous boron with a purity of 95-98%.
The purest monomeric boron is made by hydrogen reduction method: make the mixture of hydrogen and boron tribromide pass through the tantalum wire, electric heat to 1500K, boron tribromide is reduced by hydrogen at high temperature, and the generated boron becomes flake or needle-like structure on the tantalum wire.
Boron can also be obtained from the reduction of boron oxide by heating magnesium powder or aluminum powder.

Application of boron in industrials
Boron is a kind of chemical raw material mineral with a wide range of uses. It is mainly used to produce various compounds of borax, boric acid, and boron, as well as elemental boron. It is used in metallurgy, building materials, machinery, electrical appliances, chemicals, light wool, nuclear industry, medicine, agriculture, and other sectors. Important raw materials. There are more than 300 uses of boron, of which the glass industry, ceramic industry, detergents, and agricultural fertilizers are the main uses of boron, accounting for about 3/4 of the global boron consumption.
Elemental boron is used as a good reducing agent, oxidizing agent, brominating agent, blending material of organic synthesis, insulator of high voltage and high-frequency electricity and plasma arc, transmission window of radar, etc.
Boron is a trace alloy element, combined with plastic or aluminum alloy, it is an effective neutron shielding material; boron steel is used as a control rod in a reactor; boron fiber is used to make composite materials, etc. ; boron-containing additives can improve sintering in the metallurgical industry The quality of the ore reduces the melting point, reduces the expansion, and improves the strength and hardness. Boron and its compounds are also a co-solvent in the metallurgical industry and a raw material for smelting boron-iron-boron steel. Titanium boride, lithium boride, and nickel boride can be added to smelt heat-resistant special alloys; building materials. Borates and borides are important components of enamel, ceramics, and glass. They have good heat resistance and abrasion resistance, can enhance gloss and improve surface finish.
Boric acid
Zinc borate can be used as an insulating material for fireproof fibers. It is a good flame retardant and is also used in bleaching and mordant dyeing. Sodium metaborate is used in fabric bleaching. In addition, boron and its compounds can be used in paint desiccants, soldering agents, and mercury-containing wastewater treatment agents in the paper industry.
Boron exists as a trace element in quartz ore. In the purification process of high-purity quartz sand, how to reduce the boron content as much as possible becomes the key to process. The presence of boron reduces the melting point of quartz and reduces the number of uses of the prepared quartz crucible, which increases the production cost of monocrystalline silicon.
Although China is rich in boron ore resources, boron ore products can not meet the domestic economic construction needs, the domestic borax production in 2007 is about 400,000 tons, imported boron ore products 648,700 tons, a lot of dependence on imports, so a full understanding of the world market situation of boron ore products is quite important.


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