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While borate applications number in the thousands, chief among them are:
Agriculture: Boron is an essential micronutrient for plants, vital to their growth and development. Without sufficient boron, plant fertilisation, seeding and fruiting are not possible. On every continent of the world, crop yields and food quality are diminished due to insufficient boron concentrations in the soil. These deficiencies can be corrected with borate fertilisers. In areas of acute deficiency, borates can increase crop yields by 30 to 40 percent.
Ceramics: Borates have been an essential ingredient in ceramic and enamel glazes for centuries, integral to affixing glazes or enamels, and enhancing their durability and lustre. Borates are now gaining acceptance as an essential ingredient in ceramic tile bodies, allowing manufacturers to use a wider range of clays, heightening productivity and decreasing energy usage.
Detergents and Personal Care Products: Borates enhance stain removal and bleaching, stabilise enzymes, provide alkaline buffering, soften water and boost surfactant performance in detergents and cleaners. Their biostatic properties control bacteria and fungi in personal care products. New trials demonstrate that adding borates to laundry soap bars significantly improves their cleaning action and reduce levels of dirt redeposition.
Diet: Not surprisingly, people get the boron they need by eating plant-derived food. Studies indicate that people in a wide variety of cultures consume one to three milligrams of boron per day through a combination of foods and drinking water in their local diets. Although it has not yet been proved that humans need boron to live, there is almost universal agreement in the scientific community that boron is nutritionally impor tant to maintain optimal health.
Fibreglass : Borates are an important ingredient in both insulation fibreglass – which represents the largest single use of borates worldwide – and textile fibreglass, used in everything from circuit boards to surfboards. In both products, borates act as a power ful flux and lower glass batch melting temperatures. They also control the relationship between temperature, viscosity and surface tension to create optimal glass fiberisation.
Glass: Borosilicate glass is the foundation for all heat-resistant glass applications and the myriad products they make possible – from cathode ray tubes to Pyrex® cookware. Borates increase the mechanical strength of glass, as well as their resistance to thermal shock, chemicals and water.
Polymer Additives: Zinc borates are used primarily as a fire retardant synergist in plastics and rubber applications. They can also function as smoke and afterglow suppressants, anti-tracking agents, and can be used in polymers requiring high processing temperatures. Zinc borates can be found in polymers ranging from electrical parts and automobile interiors to wall coverings and carpeting.
Wood Treatments: Borate treated wood is on the rise as a safe and long-lasting method to protect homes and other structures from wood-destroying organisms.
Borate-based preservatives can be used to treat solid wood, engineered wood composites and other building materials like studs, plywood, joists and rafters. Borates
prevent fungal decay and are deadly to termites , carpenter ants and roaches – but are safe for people, pets and the environment.
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