Abstract
The hydrothermal synthesis of a mcallisterite (Mg2(B6O7(OH)6)2·9(H2O)) mineral at low temperatures was characterized. For this purpose, several reaction temperatures (0–70°C) and reaction times (30–240 min) were studied. Synthesized minerals were subjected to X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and Raman spectroscopies and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Additionally, experimental analyses of boron trioxide (B2O3) content and reaction yields were performed. Furthermore, thermal gravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA) were used for the determination of thermal dehydration kinetics. According to the XRD results, mcallisterite, which has a powder diffraction file (pdf) number of “01-070-1902,” was formed under certain reaction parameters. Pure crystalline mcallisterite had diagnostic FT-IR and Raman vibration peaks and according to the SEM analysis, for the minerals which were synthesized at 60°C and 30 min of reaction time, particle size was between 398.30 and 700.06 nm. Its B2O3 content and reaction yield were 50.80 ± 1.12% and 85.80 ± 0.61%, respectively. Finally, average activation energies (conversion values (α) that were selected between 0.1 and 0.6) were calculated as 100.40 kJ/mol and 98.31 kJ/mol according to Ozawa and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) methods, respectively.
Highlights
Boron most often occurs in nature as borates which can be classified by the kind of metal it is complexed with
The raw materials used in synthesis were boric acid (H3BO3), which was provided from Kırka Boron Management Plant (ETi Mine Kırka Works) in Eskisehir, Turkey, and magnesium oxide (MgO), which was provided from Merck Chemicals
The magnesium and boron sources used in the experiments were found to be periclase [MgO] and sassolite [H3BO3] with powder diffraction file numbers of 01-087-0651 and 01-073-2158, respectively
Summary
Boron most often occurs in nature as borates which can be classified by the kind of metal it is complexed with. Magnesium borate minerals, which are a subclass of boron minerals, are inorganic compounds containing magnesium and boron. They are excellent additives for industry due to their high elasticity coefficient, heat resistance, and corrosion resistance [1]. Many kinds of magnesium borates having xMgO⋅yB2O3⋅ zH2O compositions can be found naturally in mixture with other metal borates or can be obtained in the laboratory by synthetic methods. Some examples of this type of borate hydrate minerals that have been synthesized are
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