Industry
Boron in industry
It would be as hard to find a green plant without boron as it would be to find a borate-free industrial plant. Borates are in magnets, sandpaper and grinding wheels.
In the transportation sector, borates are used to make antifreeze, motor oil, brake fluid and power steering fluid for cars, trucks and aircraft. There are borates in your halogen headlights, and in the lights that line the 32-mile Channel Tunnel that connects England and France.
High-tech manufacturers need borates to make capacitors, transistors, semiconductors and other microelectronics that build the computers that connect the world. If you still insist on hard copy, consider that borates also improve the quality and brightness of recycled paper.
Nuclear energy producers use borates in their containment and protection systems. In addition to protecting, borates preserve. They’re used to restore historic buildings and ships, as well as for drying flowers and taxidermy.
Scientific glassware - from laboratory vessels to microscopes and telescopes — is made with borates. Medicine also relies on boron compounds for cancer treatment and pharmaceutical production.
The arts and entertainment industry relies on borates for everything from art glass, gold and silversmithing to building communications satellites.
Very few modern industries can get by without borates, and very few people can get by without their products. When you consider the role boron plays in plant life, and by extension, all life, it’s hard to imagine our world without it.
