BORON

Boron was discovered by French chemists Joseph Gay-Lussac and Louis Thénard and by British chemist Sir Humphry Davy, in 1808.

Boron belongs in 3A group in the periodic table and it is shown with the symbol B. Its atomic number is 5 and atomic weight is 10,81. Boron is a hard, brittle, semi-metallic element and it does not exist by itself in nature. It combines with oxygen and other elements to form boric acid, or inorganic salts called, borates.

Boron compounds show non-metallic properties, however pure boron show similar electrical conductivity properties with carbon. Crystalline boron is similar to diamond in terms of appearance, optical properties as well as its hardness.

There are about 230 known variety of Boron minerals in nature. Commercially the most important boron minerals are; tincal (sodium borate), colemanite (calcium borate) and ulexite (sodium-calcium borate). Turkey is the world’s major source of these boron minerals which accounts %72 of world’s total boron reserves.

Boron Minerals can be refined into chemical compounds. The most commercially important boron compounds are boric acid, borax pentahydrate, borax decahydrate and anhydrous borax.

Boron chemicals have a wide range of consumption areas since;
• they’re safe and pose no risk to people, animals or the environment under normal handling and use.
• *In some applications, there is simply no substitute for borates.
• *In other products and processes, their natural functions impart a wide range of performance, cost, environmental health and safety advantages.

Refined borates have below basic properties ;
• Anti-corrosive
• flame-retardant
• anti-septic properties
• neutron absorbtion abilty
• bleaching effects
• vitrifying effects
• low melting point
• produce very stable persalts with H₂O₂
• super conductivity
• balance effects on acidity and alkalinity in many applications
• positive effects in agricultural areas at low concentration,at high concentration used as herbicides