What We Know and What We Don't Know About Boron, the Strategic Material of World Industries

Why is Boron (Boron) on our agenda so much?

Boron is a semi-metal that is much talked about, much speculated, underestimated by some and exaggerated by others. Both those who underestimate and those who exaggerate have difficulty in fully explaining this; Boron is an "effect enhancing" substance in an unimaginable scope of materials that we cannot count. Boron is recognised as a "magic material" in many sectors.

The most important properties that boron adds to the materials included in the composite structure; resistance to extreme temperatures, high mechanical properties (tensile, rupture, tensile, tensile, buckling, etc. increasing the strength properties), increasing or decreasing the thermal and electrical conductivity, and in addition to all these basic properties, reducing the specific gravity of the material included in its structure.

In other words, imagine a material that makes significant contributions to the resistance to extreme temperatures, increasing the strength, increasing or decreasing the thermal and electrical conductivity of the metal, glass, plastic materials in which it is included in the structural integrity, and at the same time reducing the weight of these materials. This material, Boron, is a very critical, very necessary and very valuable element in many industrial sectors, from the microchip industry to the glass (including LCDs) industry, from the Li-On etc. battery/battery industry to the missile propulsion systems industry.

What is Boron?

Boron is a non-metal element found in nature, bound to oxygen. It is a metalloid consisting of two stable isotopes that form ionic bonds with stable compounds in air such as boric acid and borax, and is a brittle, dark coloured, shiny semi-metal in crystalline form.

Boron has several forms, including borates (salts formed by the combination of boric acid and an oxide), boric acid and boron oxide. The most common form is amorphous boron, a dark coloured powder.

Boron has an atomic number of 5 and has five protons, 5 electrons and a nucleus. There are 6 neutrons in the nucleus. It has a melting point of 2.300 degrees centigrade. Boiling point is 2.550 degrees centigrade.

Boron's Place in the Periodic Table.

Where is Boron Found in the World?

Turkey has 73% of the world's boron reserves. New boron reserves are also being discovered in Turkey. Turkey is almost a "monopoly" in providing boron raw materials to the world. Turkey has the highest boron reserves in the world, followed by Russia, South America and the United States.

How is Boron Obtained?

Boron can be extracted from minerals such as colemanite, ulexite, tincal and kernite. Borate ore is extracted through a combination of drilling, blasting and shovelling. The ore is then taken to crushing machines and transported to refining centres where it is processed into products such as borax, borax pentahydrate, borax decahydrate and boric acid.

Another process has been developed for the extraction of boron from the brines of natural or industrial salt mines; this process involves the steps of reacting the borates present in the brine with a solution of hydrochloric acid.

This forms precipitates that are separated from the brine by filtration or centrifugation. The brine is then subjected to one or more extraction steps via solvents to extract the remaining boron content.

What are Boron Minerals?

Boron minerals are natural compounds containing different proportions of boron oxide in their structure. There are more than 230 different boron minerals in nature. The most commercially important boron minerals;

Kernite, Tinkalkonite, Tinkal, Probertit, Üleksit, Kolemanit, Meyerhofferit, Inyoit, Pandermit, Inderit, Hydroboracite, Boracite, Asharit, Datolit, Sassolit (natural boric acid).

Boron minerals, which are made valuable by using various mining methods, are enriched by physical processes and transformed into concentrated boron products.

What is the Global Market Size and Value of Boron Raw Material?

The size of the global boron market was 3.87 billion dollars in 2022, of which 1 billion 321 million dollars is the sales of Turkey's Eti Maden company. Eti Maden is the world's largest Boron mining company.

The global Boron market is projected to realise over $4 billion in 2023 with a compound annual growth rate of 3.4%. The Russia-Ukraine war disrupted changes in the global economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic, at least in the short term. The war between these two countries led to economic sanctions in many countries, an increase in commodity prices and disruptions in the supply chain, causing inflation in goods and services and affecting many markets worldwide. The market size of boron is expected to grow at a Compound Growth Rate of 5.1% from $4.88 billion in 2027.

However, it is not possible to quantify the monetary magnitude of the wedge value that Boron's qualified derivatives add to the markets in which they are involved. This is because such information and data are within the scope of technological and trade secrets. For example, only those who design and produce these chips know the added value that Boron derivatives, which are included in microchips, add to this gigantic industry, and they do not share this information, and there would be no logic in sharing it.

Boron and boron derivatives are used intensively and effectively as "strategic materials" in many of the world's industries.

The consumption of boron products on a sectoral basis in the world is: 47% glass sector, 16% agriculture-fertiliser, 15% ceramic sector, 2% cleaning and detergent sectors and 20% other sectors.

Here, the most critical sectors with the highest boron-related added value are those in the 20% other sectors.

For Which Industries Are Boron Derivatives Critical?

It is an important part of industry and daily life and is the active ingredient of many industrial products.

Borates in Glass: Making a Great Technology Even Better

The value of borosilicate glass has been recognised by both consumers and industry for nearly 140 years. In 1882, German glass chemist Otto Schott discovered that optimising the amount of boron in the glass recipe results in a type of glass that can withstand uneven temperature changes without breaking down.

Today, glass manufacturers add 5-20% boric oxide to the silica base to significantly reduce melting temperature and viscosity, prevent crystallisation of the glass, control thermal expansion and inhibit devitrification. The resulting products have an inherent durability and chemical resistance and are tough enough to withstand significant mechanical or thermal shock.

Modern glass manufacturers use borates in their formulations to produce a wide variety of products:

 Borosilicate glass used in applications from pharmaceuticals to cookware and lighting

 Insulating fibreglass (IFG or glass wool) used for energy saving in buildings

 Superfine glass fibre (microfibre glass) used for filtering paper, battery separators and equipment insulation panels

 Textile fibreglass (E-glass) used in electronics and in the reinforcement of composites

 Display glass, including thin film transistor (TFT) and liquid crystal display (LCD)

 Optical glass, laboratory and technical glass and heat-resistant borosilicate tubes

Use of Boron in Metallurgy:

Boron is used extremely widely in metallurgy, it is very difficult to summarise the areas of use, but in general, the areas of use of Boron in the metallurgical industry are as follows.

It is widely used for hardening steel,

It is used as a degasser in copper-based alloys,

It is used to reduce the conductivity of certain substances,

It is an indispensable element for nuclear power plants.

Use of Boron in Plastics:

The use of boron in monomer, polymer, i.e. plastic industries is very diverse and intensive, it is mainly used as an additive material or additive component of additives or additives for increasing the heat resistance of the relevant plastic product, increasing the strength values, reducing the specific gravity, increasing the insulation, reducing or increasing the conductivity.  

Boron Use in Nuclear Applications:

Boron steels, boron carbides and titanbor alloys are used extensively in atomic reactors. Boron steel, which is highly resistant to corrosion, is preferred as a neutron absorber. Approximately each boron atom absorbs one neutron. Boron and boron products are also used in the control systems and cooling pools of atomic reactors and in shutting down the reactor with alarm. In addition, colemanite is used in the storage of nuclear waste.

Boron Use in the Automotive Sector:

Boron used in the production of airbags and antifreeze is used to ensure that airbags inflate immediately. At the moment of impact, the powder mixture of elemental boron and potassium nitrate is activated by an electronic sensor.

Use of Boron in Missile and Aircraft Fuels:

Boron and boron products are widely used in missile and aircraft fuels. It is also used as a fuel additive in special applications.

Use of Boron in Aerospace Composite Materials:

Boron is used extensively in composite structural elements of aviation (civil and military aircraft, UAVs and UCAVs) and space vehicles (satellites, spacecraft).

Boron Use in Nanotechnology:

Boron products stand out in the nanotechnology industry with their protective and strength-enhancing properties, especially in nano-coatings.

Boron Use in Solid and Cell Fuels:

In solid and cell fuels; R & D studies are continuing to reduce the cost in the production phase of cell fuel that produces energy from sodium borohydride. Hydrogen is present in the chemical bonds of sodium borohydride and the catalyst releases hydrogen.  The basic principle in this production is the reaction of water and borax. Hydrogen produced from this reaction can be fed directly to internal combustion engines or used in cell fuels.

Boron Use in Agriculture:

Boron is an essential micronutrient for plant growth and health, playing a role in cell walls and reproductive structures. It is added to fertilisers by mixing with dry granular fertilisers or liquid fertilisers.

Boron Use in Batteries / Batteries and Capacitors:

In order for batteries/batteries and capacitors to reach their full potential, they need high quality materials such as boron that improve performance and support longer product life. Boron compounds provide benefits in many battery and capacitor functions, from electrolyte solutions to surface treatments.

Boron nitride, a compound formed by boron with nitrogen, is used in solid-state batteries that are planned to replace standard batteries.

Boron is used as an advanced energy material due to its unique properties. It is a good conductor of electricity, extremely strong and lightweight, and can provide portable energy sources that act as catalysts in chemical reactions and can potentially be used as electrode material in lithium-ion batteries. Boron-doped, long-lasting lithium ion batteries that protect the environment are produced.

There is also an industrial battery called Borofen Battery/Battery with Boron as the main active ingredient. Borofen: It is a very valuable anode material for lithium-ion batteries, offering high specific capacity and high rate capability.

The contribution of Boron in batteries is well known and extensively applied, but the next quarter century will be a period of transition from internal combustion engines to electric motors in the automotive world, and this transition will create an enormous vehicle battery sector. The Boron contribution in this sector will reach mega-sized material values.

Other Uses of Boron:

Boron products are also preferred in many fields such as fibre optics, cosmetics, rubber and plastic industry, photography, fireworks, explosives, petroleum paints, industrial fluids and lubricants, oil and gas production, fire retardants, abrasives and abrasives, insulation, ceramics, enamels and glazes, composite materials, cleaners and detergents, wood protection and biocides, pharmaceutical use, magnetic devices, advanced technology research and embalming, health, energy, aviation, defence vehicles, transport vehicles, etc.

A Few Very Interesting Examples of the Use of Boron Touching Every Field of Life:

Have we heard about Steve Jobs' interest in Boron? Steve Jobs had reinforced iPhone glasses with Boron in them manufactured. In almost all of the reinforced glass categories, this strengthening is done with Boron. Steve Jobs (God rest his soul) led the development of toughened glass with boron in it for Apple iPhones. Boron is used in toughened glass products because of its exceptional qualities and processability in development and durability as a finished product. So how did Steve Jobs support the development and production of Boron toughened iPhone glass? Boron combines with the dark side of Silicon to form a toughened glass. When Boron combines with Silicon dioxide, a highly durable glass is obtained compared to the traditional soda lime glass found in windows and low-cost bottles. The company that produces screen glass for iPhones produced this revolutionary glass with the support of Steve Jobs.

Boron is used in Flat Screen Panels to strengthen the panel.

Boron compounds are used a lot in FPDG (Flat panel display glass). The term flat panel display (FPD) is used to refer to any number of "flat" display technologies such as liquid crystal displays (LCD), plasma displays and field emission displays (FED). FPDs primarily use borosilicate glass for TFT displays. Since cathode ray tubes (CRTs) were replaced by flat panel displays (FPDs) in industries such as television (TV) and computer monitors, thin film transistorised (TFT) glass has historically formed a significant market for Boron Borates (Borax). The most common type of FPD is the LCD, which utilises TFT glass in the manufacture of devices. The use of Boron in flat panel display glass continues to expand. Boron provides advantages in flat panel display glass in terms of heat resistance, processing range and devitrification stability. Other benefits of Boron in flat panel displays include improved brightness and colour rendering. 

Intel has developed a glass wafer for next generation chip packages. Intel has spent more than 10 years of research and development to develop and refine this innovation. Compared to modern organic substrates, glass has better thermal, physical and optical properties, which allows to increase the density of connections up to 10 times. Glass also withstands higher operating temperatures and offers 50% less pattern distortion with improved flatness, which increases the depth of focus for lithography. The ability of the substrate to withstand higher temperatures gives designers additional flexibility in power supply and signal routing. Improved mechanical properties will lead to increased assembly efficiency and reduced waste. In short, the glass substrate will allow chip architects to package more chips in less space in a single package, while reducing cost and power consumption.

Boron in Glasses

There are many applications of boron in spectacles and optics. Borate minerals such as Potassium Borate, Sodium Tetraborate and Boric Acid are widely used in the production of optical materials. Boron has been an important component for eyewear and optical material manufacturers since 1887 due to its water-soluble presence along with its benefits such as durability, scratch resistance and suitability for light transmission.

Boron in Quantum Computing

Boron in quantum computing is one of the most exciting areas of science today. Currently, silicon-based qubits provide the processing power for these extremely powerful machines. But Hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN) is a promising material for quantum technologies. The advantages of hBN include lower error rates, an increase in the number of qubits per chip, increased stability, better conductivity and reduced energy loss. They are also more cost-effective.

Elon Musk, Tesla and Boron, How Boron Improves Tesla's Performance

Tesla is an American electric vehicle manufacturer and clean energy company owned by Elon Musk. Tesla manufactures electric cars and battery energy storage, from home to utility-scale, solar panels, solar roof tiles and other products and services. With a market capitalisation of approximately $1 trillion, Tesla is one of the world's most valuable car manufacturers. It uses lithium (battery) and boron (neodymium) magnets to provide alternative energy sources and Boron to provide a lighter, more muscular body. Tesla and its owner Elon Musk's interest and need for Boron is of strategic importance.

Boron is used in the body and battery of the Tesla car.

Turkey is the World Leader in Boron in Raw Materials, but... Now let us imagine the importance and value of these products and other elements, especially Boron, which contribute to the emergence of these products. Let us reconsider and evaluate the contributions of Boron to the material compositions in which it is included, which we mentioned at the very beginning of our article.

How Can Turkey Increase its Value Added Advantage in Boron?

Turkey has made significant progress in the process of extracting boron ore and separating it into some of its elements with the Kırka Borax Plant in Eskişehir, established in 1970. Turkey's first boron carbide plant started operations in Bandırma district of Balıkesir in 2023. Increasing the number of companies that will produce value-added Boron derivatives such as Boron Carbide will enable Turkey to get the share it deserves from the world Boron elements and Boron derivatives market.