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SODIUM TETRABORATE

SODIUM TETRABORATE = BORAX = DISODIUM TETRABORATE


CAS Number: 1330-43-4
EC Number: 215-540-4
MDL number: MFCD00081185
Molecular Formula: Na2B4O7


Sodium Tetraborate is a powdery white substance, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate. 
Sodium Tetraborate is often found in dry lake beds in places like California’s Death Valley, where the water evaporated and left behind deposits of minerals.
Boric acid is made from the same chemical compound as borax and even looks like borax. 
Sodium Tetraborate is the sodium tetraborate decahydrate (Na2B4O7 · 10H2O) that, when dissolved in water, is hydrolyzed to boric acid and OH− anions, yielding a pH of about 9.13.
Sodium Tetraborate, also known as sodium borate, sodium borate decahydrate or sodium tetraborate decahydrate, is a hydrate salt of boric acid. 


Commonly available in powder or granular form, Sodium Tetraborate dissolves in water to make a basic, aqueous solution. 
Sodium Tetraborate is soluble and has many industrial and household applications as a component in a wide range of products. 
Sodium Tetraborate was first discovered in dry lake beds in Tibet and was imported via the Silk Road to the Arabian Peninsula in the 8th century AD. 
Sodium Tetraborate first came into common use in the late 19th century when Francis Marion Smith's Pacific Coast Borax Company began to market and popularize a large variety of applications under the 20 Mule Team Borax trademark, named for the method by which Sodium Tetraborate was originally hauled out of the California and Nevada deserts.


The term Sodium Tetraborate is often used for a number of closely related minerals or chemical compounds that differ in their crystal water content:
-anhydrous sodium tetraborate, Na2B4O7
-sodium tetraborate pentahydrate, Na2B4O7·5H2O
-sodium tetraborate decahydrate, Na2B4O7·10H2O or equivalently the octahydrate, Na2B4O5(OH)4·8H2O
-From the chemical perspective, borax contains the [B4O5(OH)4]2− ion. 
In this structure, there are two four-coordinate boron -centers and two three-coordinate boron centers.


Sodium Tetraborate powder is a naturally occurring mineral with many uses. 
Sodium Tetraborate powder (sodium tetraborate) is a naturally occurring mineral with many uses.  
Sodium tetraborate is a term used for either the anhydrous or hydrated form of the compound with the formula Na2B4O7. 
The decahydrate (Na2B4O7·10H2O) is also referred to as borax. 
Sodium Tetraborate also occurs without water of hydration and in that form is known as anhydrous borax.


Sodium tetraborate is an odorless white crystalline solid or powder. 
The hydrated form loses Sodium Tetraborate's water of hydration when heated and then fuses (melts) to form a glass-like solid at higher temperatures.
Sodium Tetraborate, also called tincal, sodium tetraborate decahydrate (Na2B4O7·10H2O). 
Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate, also known as Borax, is an important boron compound, a mineral and a salt of Boric Acid. 


Sodium Tetraborate is a white powder consisting of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water.
Sodium Tetraborate is a natural mineral with a chemical formula Na2B4O7 • 10H2O. 
Sodium Tetraborate also is known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate. 
Sodium Tetraborate is one of the most important boron compounds. 
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) name for Sodium Tetraborate is sodium tetraborate decahydrate.


Sodium Tetraborate, or sodium borate, is an alkaline mineral salt with a powdery white appearance. 
Sodium Tetraborate is one of the most important boron compounds, with the chemical formula Na2[B4O5(OH)4]·8H2O. 
However, the common usage of the term “borax” may refer to various very similar compounds, distinguished by their water content, such as:
Anhydrous borax or sodium tetraborate (Na2B4O7)
Sodium Tetraborate pentahydrate (Na2B4O7·5H2O)
Sodium Tetraborate decahydrate (Na2B4O7·10H2O)


Sodium Tetraborate decahydrate is the refined form of natural sodium borate. 
Composed of boric oxide (B2O3), sodium oxide, and water, Sodium Tetraborate is a mild, alkaline salt, white and crystalline, with excellent buffering and fluxing properties. 
Available in powder or granular form, Sodium Tetraborate decahydrate is an important multi-functional source of B2O3, particularly for processes in which the simultaneous presence of sodium is beneficial.


Sodium Tetraborate is a compound consisting of an elementary substance called boron, united to oxygen and soda.
Sodium Tetraborate formula, also known as sodium borate formula. 
Sodium Tetraborate is a soft, colourless compound of Boron and can be dissolved in water. 
The main forms of Sodium Tetraborate are anhydrous and decahydrate salt and sometimes as a pentahydrate salt.
Sodium tetraborate Na2B407.10 H20 known as mineral tinkal (natural borax) is found on the shores of oertain lakes in Tibet and East Indies. 


These deposits were formerly exploited and the pure salt was obtained by crystallizing from the hot solution.
Many methods are used to manufacture synthetic Sodium Tetraborate. 
First of all it is possible to manufacture Sodium Tetraborate if boric acid is gradually introduced into a solution of soda at 90 to 100 °C. 
After settling and separating insoluble substances by filtration, the solution is cooled in a crystallizer, in order to separate the crystals which are finally centrifuged. 
The mother liquor is used to dissolve new charges of soda ash.

USES and APPLICATIONS of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
-Sodium Tetraborate’s widely used as a household cleaner and a booster for laundry detergent. 
Sodium Tetraborate’s a combination of boron, sodium, and oxygen. 
-While Sodium Tetraborate is commonly used in cleaning, boric acid is mainly used as a pesticide. 
Boric acid kills insects by targeting their stomachs and nervous systems. 
-Specialty toothpastes and mouthwashes.


-Cosmetics such as lotions, skin creams, moisturizers, sunscreen, and acne care products.
-Paint and ceramic glaze.
-Herbicides.
-Sodium Tetraborate is also an ingredient for making putty-like “slime” for kids. 
-Applications include as a pesticide; metal soldering; glaze and enamel manufacturing; tanning of skins and hides; artificial aging of wood; as a preservative against wood fungus; analytical chemistry as a buffering agent; and pharmaceutic aid as an alkalizer.


-Household products:
Sodium Tetraborate is used in various household laundry and cleaning products, including the 20 Mule Team Borax laundry booster, Boraxo powdered hand soap, and some tooth bleaching formulas.


-pH buffer:
Borate ions (commonly supplied as boric acid) are used in biochemical and chemical laboratories to make buffers, e.g. for polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of DNA and RNA, such as TBE buffer (borate buffered tris-hydroxymethylaminomethonium) or the newer SB buffer or BBS buffer (borate buffered saline) in coating procedures. 
Borate buffers (usually at pH 8) are also used as preferential equilibration solution in dimethyl pimelimidate (DMP) based crosslinking reactions.


-Co-complexing agent:
Sodium Tetraborate as a source of borate has been used to take advantage of the co-complexing ability of borate with other agents in water to form complex ions with various substances. 
Borate and a suitable polymer bed are used to chromatograph non-glycated hemoglobin differentially from glycated hemoglobin (chiefly HbA1c), which is an indicator of long-term hyperglycemia in diabetes mellitus.


-Water-softening agent:
Sodium Tetraborate alone does not have a high affinity for the hardness cations, although Sodium Tetraborate has been used for water-softening. 
Sodium Tetraborate's chemical equation for water-softening is given below:
Ca2+ (aq) + Na2B4O7 (aq) → Ca B4O7 (s)↓ + 2 Na+ (aq)
Mg2+ (aq) + Na2B4O7 (aq) → Mg B4O7 (s)↓ + 2 Na+ (aq)
The sodium ions introduced do not make water ‘hard’. 
This method is suitable for removing both temporary and permanent types of hardness.


-Flux:
A mixture of borax and ammonium chloride is used as a flux when welding iron and steel. 
Sodium Tetraborate lowers the melting point of the unwanted iron oxide (scale), allowing Sodium Tetraborate to run off. 
Sodium Tetraborate is also used mixed with water as a flux when soldering jewelry metals such as gold or silver, where Sodium Tetraborate allows the molten solder to wet the metal and flow evenly into the joint. 
Sodium Tetraborate is also a good flux for "pre-tinning" tungsten with zinc — making the tungsten soft-solderable. 
Sodium Tetraborate is often used as a flux for forge welding.


-Small-scale gold mining:
Old steam tractor and borax wagons, Death Valley National Park.
In artisanal gold mining, borax is sometimes used as part of a process known as the borax method (as a flux) meant to eliminate the need for toxic mercury in the gold extraction process, although Sodium Tetraborate cannot directly replace mercury. 
Sodium Tetraborate was reportedly used by gold miners in parts of the Philippines in the 1900s. 


There is evidence that, in addition to reducing the environmental impact, this method achieves better gold recovery for suitable ores and is less expensive. 
This borax method is used in northern Luzon in the Philippines, but miners have been reluctant to adopt Sodium Tetraborate elsewhere for reasons that are not well understood. 
The method has also been promoted in Bolivia and Tanzania.

-Flubber:
A rubbery polymer sometimes called Slime, Flubber, 'gluep' or 'glurch' (or erroneously called Silly Putty, which is based on silicone polymers), can be made by cross-linking polyvinyl alcohol with borax. 
Making flubber from polyvinyl acetate-based glues, such as Elmer's Glue, and Sodium Tetraborate is a common elementary-science demonstration.


-Ingredient in enamel glazes.
-Component of glass, pottery, and ceramics.
-Used as an additive in ceramic slips and glazes to improve fit on wet, greenware, and bisque.
-Fire retardant.
-Anti-fungal compound for cellulose insulation.


-Moth proofing 10% solution for wool.
-Pulverized for the prevention of stubborn pests (e.g. German cockroaches) in closets, pipe and cable inlets, wall panelling gaps, and inaccessible locations where ordinary pesticides are undesirable.
-Precursor for sodium perborate monohydrate that is used in detergents, as well as for boric acid and other borates.
-Tackifier ingredient in casein, starch and dextrin based adhesives.
-Precursor for boric acid, a tackifier ingredient in polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl alcohol based adhesives.


-Fluoride detoxification.
-To make indelible ink for dip pens by dissolving shellac into heated borax.
-Curing agent for snake skins.
-Curing agent for salmon eggs, for use in sport fishing for salmon.
-Swimming pool buffering agent to control pH.
-Neutron absorber, used in nuclear reactors and spent fuel pools to control reactivity and to shut down a nuclear chain reaction.


-As a micronutrient fertilizer to correct boron-deficient soils.
-Preservative in taxidermy.
-To color fires with a green tint.
-Was traditionally used to coat dry-cured meats such as hams to improve the appearance and discourage flies.
-Used by blacksmiths in forge welding.
-Used as a flux for melting metals and alloys in casting to draw out impurities and prevent oxidation.


-Used as a woodworm treatment (diluted in water)
-In Particle Physics as an additive to Nuclear emulsion, to extend the latent image lifetime of charged particle tracks. 
The first observation of the pion, which was awarded the 1950 Nobel Prize, used this type of emulsion.
-Use Sodium Tetraborate to make a bath bomb, a bouncy ball, or mix Sodium Tetraborate with white glue to make slime.
-An organic compound, Sodium Tetraborate is in detergents, cosmetics, and enamels, and many parents and teachers use Sodium Tetraborate to make slime or other science projects! 
This Sodium Tetraborate powder dissolves in water to make a sodium tetraborate solution.


-Sodium tetraborate is used as a co-catalyst for (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl and sodium hypochlorite oxidation of alcohols in greener and non-chlorinated solvents. 
-Sodium Tetraborate acts as a reagent for the decomposition of oxides and silicates by fusion. 
-Sodium Tetraborate is used to prepare buffers, which is used in gel electrophoresis of DNA. 
-Sodium Tetraborate acts as a source of borate, micronutrient fertilizer, preservative in taxidermy, additive in ceramic slips and glazes.


-Sodium Tetraborate is also used as a precursor for sodium perborate monohydrate and boric acid. 
-Sodium Tetraborate finds application as fluoride detoxification, neutron absorber in nuclear reactors and to make indelible ink for dip pens.
-Sodium Tetraborate, also called sodium tetraborate, is a powdery white mineral that has been used as a cleaning product for several decades. 
-Sodium Tetraborate helps get rid of stains, mold, and mildew around the house.


-Sodium Tetraborate can kill insects such as ants.
-Sodium Tetraborate’s used in laundry detergents and household cleansers to help whiten and get rid of dirt.
-Sodium Tetraborate can neutralize odors and soften hard water.
-In cosmetic products, Sodium Tetraborate is sometimes used as an emulsifier, buffering agent, or preservative for moisturizing products, creams, shampoos, gels, lotions, bath bombs, scrubs, and bath salts.


-Sodium Tetraborate is also an ingredient combined with glue and water to make “slime,” a gooey material that many kids enjoy playing with.
-Today, modern ingredients have mostly replaced the use of Sodium Tetraborate in cleansers and cosmetics. 
-Slime can be made out of other ingredients, such as cornstarch. 
-The primary use of sodium tetraborate is in the manufacture of glass products. 


-About 43 percent of all the compound used in the world goes to this application. 
-Glass made with sodium tetraborate is very strong and heat resistant. 
-Today, the largest single use of Sodium Tetraborate glass is in the manufacture of fiberglass insulation and fiberglass textiles.
-As a flame-retardant and fungicide for wood products;
-In the production of enamel, porcelain, glazes, enamels, and frits (specialized types of glass);


-In the manufacture of fertilizers and herbicides;
-As additives for certain kinds of polymers;
-As a flux for smelting and soldering metals;
-In the preparation of rust inhibitors; and
-In certain photographic processes.


-Sodium Tetraborate, is an important boron compound, which has a wide variety of applications. 
Sodium Tetraborate is a component of many detergents, cosmetics, and enamel glazes. 
-Sodium Tetraborate is also used to make buffer solutions in biochemistry, as a fire retardant, as an anti-fungal compound for fiberglass, as a flux in metallurgy, neutron-capture shields for radioactive sources, a texturing agent in cooking, and as a precursor for other boron compounds.


-Natural boron based mineral. 
Antiseptic, pH regulator, emulsifier, preservative.
-A soft and light, colourless crystalline substance, borax is used in many ways—as a component of glass and pottery glazes in the ceramics industry, as a solvent for metal-oxide slags in metallurgy, as a flux in welding and soldering, and as a fertilizer additive, a soap supplement, a disinfectant, a mouthwash, and a water softener.


-A fungicide
-A herbicide
-A desiccant
-A laundry booster
-A general household cleaner
-Sodium Tetraborate is an ingredient in several other products, such as:


-Buffer solutions
-Flame retardants
-Teeth bleaching products
-Glass, ceramics and pottery
-Enamel glazes
-For science projects such as green coloured fire, slime and Sodium Tetraborate crystals.


-Pests control:
Keep roaches and ants away by sprinkling equal parts of borax and sugar anywhere you suspect they may be entering your home.
-Killing Weeds:
Use a sprinkle of borax to kill weeds that surface in concrete cracks and on walkways to fertilize your garden use tablespoon of borax into 12 liters of water.


-Unclogging Drains:
Unclog drains with 1/2 cup of Sodium Tetraborate followed by 2 cups of boiling water, let Sodium Tetraborate sit for 15 minutes, then run your water for a few minutes to flush out the Sodium Tetraborate and any clogs.
-Carpet Cleaning: 
Boost the cleaning power of your carpet cleaning machine by adding a 1/2 cup of borax per gallon of water in your reservoir.


-Cleaning Mattresses:
Remove urine odor from a mattress, wet the mattress, rub in Sodium Tetraborate with a damp cloth let dry, then vacuum up the remaining residue.
-Cat Litter Deodorizer:
Minimize odor in your cat’s litter box by mixing a few tablespoons of Sodium Tetraborate in with the litter.


-Refrigerator Deodorizer:
Spilled food can be washed away with a sponge or soft cloth using a solution of 1 quart warm water and 1 tablespoon of borax, rinse with cold water.
-Sodium Tetraborate is used for a wide range of applications with the most common application being that of a cleaning agent. 
-Sodium Tetraborate is also utilized as an ingredient in cosmetics, household detergents and many other uses. 
-Aside from these uses, this versatile compound is also great for home pest control.


-Sodium Tetraborate is ground into a fine powder for the prevention of pests in the home and is applied in indoor cracks and crevices, wall voids, and other hard to reach areas where conventional pesticides are not feasible or effective. 
Insecticides containing Sodium Tetraborate are able to successfully control ants, cockroaches, silverfish, and fleas. 
The active ingredient also works as a fungicide and herbicide.  
-Sodium Tetraborate is found in laundry booster, hand soaps, and in some kinds of toothpaste. 
-20 Mule Team Sodium Tetraborate (pure borax).


-Powdered hand soap.
-Tooth bleaching formulas (check labels for borax or sodium tetraborate).
-Insect killer, particularly in roach killing products and as moth-preventative (ten percent solution on wool).
-Fungicide.
-Herbicide.


-Desiccant.
-Laundry booster.
-Household cleaner.
-Water softening agent.
-Food additive as a preservative (banned in some countries)
-Sodium Tetraborate is an ingredient in several other products, including:


-Buffer solutions.
-Flame retardants.
-Teeth bleaching products.
-Glass, ceramics, and pottery.
-Enamel glazes.
-A precursor for boric acid.
-Science projects such as green-colored fire, slime, and borax crystals.


-Analytical chemistry borax bead test.
-Flux for welding iron and steel.
-Sodium tetraborate decahydrate can also be used to prevent the growth of fungi by affecting the production of reproductive spores. 
-Sodium Tetraborate also works as an herbicide by interrupting the photosynthesis, hindering growth and ATP production.
-Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate is an effective pest control active ingredient and is relatively safe compared to other active ingredients. 


-Use Sodium Tetraborate to treat for ants, roaches and other labeled household pests that are infesting structures indoors or outdoors.
-Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate on its own is not attractive or something that will lure insects to the active ingredient, so if the target pest doesn't come near Sodium Tetraborate, Sodium Tetraborate won't do and killing and can be rather ineffective. 
That is why you need to apply the active ingredient where the pests frequent so they will have no choice but to encounter Sodium Tetraborate either by crawling over the product or curiously eating and ingesting Sodium Tetraborate as they forage. 
That being said, the active ingredient is sometimes used in bait products that contain other ingredients that can serve as attractants.


-Sodium Tetraborate is most famous as a laundry washing powder. 
Until not too long ago, the compound used to be the go-to solution for disinfection, whitening, and fighting mold and mildew.
-Sodium Tetraborate is used in all sorts of cleaning recipes, where Sodium Tetraborate’s added for the compound’s stain-fighting and grease-cutting abilities. 
You’ll find Sodium Tetraborate present in various products and industries, not only cleaning supplies. 
In some gold mining operations, Sodium Tetraborate replaces mercury, for instance. 


-For production of specialized glass, fiber glass and glass fiber cloth. 
Sodium Tetraborate contributes to blend malting, diminishes melt viscosity, prevents from devitrification, which leads to increased end product durability, mechanic, chemical and thermal exposure resistance. 
Sodium Tetraborate application contributes to fiber glass hardening, chemical stability, improved thermal and sound-proof properties.
-When producing enamels and glazes, Sodium Tetraborate is used as a source of boric oxide. 
In glazes and enamels, Sodium Tetraborate is an inorganic binder.


-Metallurgy: Sodium Tetraborate is used as a source of boric oxide – antioxidant.
-Gold mining: During processing gold ore, anhydrous borax is primarily used. 
-Effect of anhydrous Sodium Tetraborate: increased gold yield, improved quality of ingots.
-Sodium Tetraborate is actively used when producing cooling liquid, lubricants and brake fluids, as Sodium Tetraborate forms a complex compound on metal surfaces acting as a protection barrier from corrosion.


-Sodium tetraborate is used in construction as a metal construction corrosion inhibitor. 
-When producing green fiber, adhesives, chipboards, as antipyren antiseptic.
-Production of washing, cleaning agents, bleachers.
-Sodium Tetraborate is a stock component in production of sodium perborate, a basic oxygen containing beaching agent in powdered synthetic detergents, polishes, ointments.

-Sodium Tetraborate is found as an ingredient in all-purpose cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, laundry detergent (including some labeled as “natural”), laundry stain removers, air fresheners, dish detergents, glass cleaners, diaper creams, pesticides (to kill ants) and herbicides as well as and some “slimy”, pliable toys like playdough, gak, or silly putty.
-Sodium Tetraborate decahydrate is incorporated in many cleaning products as a pH buffering agent, to aid in the emulsification of oils, and as a gentle abrasive. 
Sodium Tetraborate decahydrate is added to powdered hand soaps to remove medium to heavy soils encountered in industrial operations. 
Sodium Tetraborate is gentle to the skin, yet highly effective in removing dirt. 


-Sodium Tetraborate decahydrate is added to formulations to clean hard surfaces such as metals, glass, and ceramics. 
-Sodium Tetraborate is also used as an additive in hand cleaners, polishes and waxes, and industrial/institutional cleaning compounds. 
-In laundry detergents, Sodium Tetraborate facilitates the removal of oily soils from fabrics, and imparts alkalinity, pH buffering and softening of the wash water. 
-Sodium Tetraborate is also used to stabilize enzymes.


-Sodium Tetraborate, also known as borax or sodium borate, is a mineral and inorganic salt largely used as ingredients in laundry and cleaning products.
-Sodium Tetraborate is largely used by chemical, food and pharmaceutical industries. 
-Sodium Tetraborate is used as antifungal additive in medicine and food manufacture
-Sodium Tetraborate is also used in these industries to prepare buffer solution to regulate the pH of products. 
-Sodium Tetraborate is extensively used as an ingredients of many detergents, laundry and cleaning products.
-Sodium Tetraborate is an alternative to mercury use in gold mining
-Sodium Tetraborate is also used as a neutron-capture in nuclear reactors.


FORMULA AND STRUCTURE of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
Sodium Tetraborate can be found as anhydrous, pentahydrate or decahydrated salt. 
The anhydrous and decahydrate forms are the most common. 
Sodium Tetraborate decahydrate chemical formula is Na2B4O7.10H2O (also written as Na2[B4O5(OH)4]·8H2O) and Sodium Tetraborate's molecular formula is H20B4Na2O17. 
Sodium Tetraborate anhydrous molar mass is 201.22 g mol-1, while the decahydrate salt molar mass is 381.38 g mol-1. 
Sodium Tetraborate decahydrate is a complex formed by the ion [B4O5(OH)4]-2, which has 4 boron atoms coordinated to 7 oxygen atoms and formed a bicyclic structure. 

BORAX VERSUS BORIC ACID:
Borax and boric acid are two related boron compounds. 
The natural mineral, mined from the ground or collected from evaporated deposits, is called borax. 
When borax is processed, the purified chemical that results is boric acid (H3BO3). 
Borax is a salt of boric acid. 
While there are some differences between the compounds, either version of the chemical will work for pest control or slime.

The difference between borax and boric acid:
Borax is also known as sodium tetraborate or disodium tetraborate. 
Borax is not the same as boric acid (hydrogen borate), although Borax’s very easy to confuse the two.
Both compounds are best known as low-toxicity pesticides used in homes, which shouldn’t be toxic to humans or pets when used as recommended. 
Also, both compounds come as white powders that are easily dissolved in water.

These two compounds, however, should not be mistaken as they are entirely different chemical compounds. 
An easy way to remember the difference between the two is that borax is a natural mineral, mined from the ground or collected from evaporated deposits, whereas boric acid (H3BO3) results after acidifying borax. 
Borax is, therefore, the hydrated salt of boric acid.


HOW SODIUM TETRABORATE IS MADE?
Sodium tetraborate occurs naturally as the minerals tincal (pronounced "tinkle;" Na2B4O7·10H2O) and kernite (Na2B4O7·4H2O). Ores containing these minerals are crushed, washed, and processed to obtain the decahydrate of high purity. 
Anhydrous sodium tetraborate can be obtained by heating the decahydrate. 
Sodium tetraborate can also be obtained by processing other minerals that contain borates, such as ulexite (NaCaB5O9·8H2O) and colemanite (Ca2B6O11·5H2O).


HISTORY of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
Sodium Tetraborate was certainly in use as far back as about 800 bce when the compound was being used in the Chinese and Islamic civilization for making glass and in jewelry work. 
Sodium Tetraborate was very expensive, however, and Sodium Tetraborate was not widely used in Europe until the Middle Ages. 
Sodium Tetraborate became more commonly used after extensive deposits of Borax's naturally occurring form were found in the United States. 
The first of those deposits was discovered in Nevada in 1879, although the largest deposits were later found in the desert regions of southern California. 
Today, the largest reserves of borax are found near the town of Boron, California, and at Borax Lake, California. 
The compound is also mined in Tibet, Russia, Chile, and Turkey.


Sodium Tetraborate has been known since early times, when Sodium Tetraborate was obtained from saline lakes in Kashmir and Tibet and taken to Europe to be refined. 
Sodium Tetraborate has been produced commercially from colemanite, kernite, and tincalconite, as well as from the mineral borax, by dissolving the ore in water, filtering out the clay, and evaporating the solution. 
Colemanite was the chief source until the 1930s, when Sodium Tetraborate was supplanted by kernite, which was subsequently replaced by the mineral borax. 
About 50 percent of the world’s supply of commercial boron compounds comes from southern California: the borax crusts and brine from Searles Lake, the large kernite and borax deposits near Kramer, and the colemanite deposits from Death Valley, formed by the evaporation of hot springs or saline lakes and playas. 


REACTIONS of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
Sodium Tetraborate is also easily converted to boric acid and other borates, which have many applications. 
Sodium Tetraborate is mainly used in laundry and other cleaning products. 
Sodium Tetraborate is also used to prepare boric acid by reacting with hydrochloric acid, i.e. HCl. 

This process was first used by Wilhelm Homberg. 
Apart from this, borax is also used in food, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries.
Sodium Tetraborate's reaction with hydrochloric acid to form boric acid is:
Na2B4O7·10H2O + 2 HCl → 4 H3BO3 + 2 NaCl + 5H2O
The "decahydrate" is sufficiently stable to find use as a primary standard for acid base titrimetry.

Borax Reaction:
Each of the sugar residues in the polymer has two hydroxyl groups positioned in the cis- form. 
This leads to an interesting and valuable reaction with dissociated borate ions that is characteristic of such polymers.


NATURAL SOURCES of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
Sodium Tetraborate "cottonball".
Sodium Tetraborate occurs naturally in evaporite deposits produced by the repeated evaporation of seasonal lakes. 
The most commercially important deposits are found in: Turkey; Boron, California; and Searles Lake, California. 

Also, Sodium Tetraborate has been found at many other locations in the Southwestern United States, the Atacama desert in Chile, newly discovered deposits in Bolivia, and in Tibet and Romania. 
Sodium Tetraborate can also be produced synthetically from other boron compounds.
Naturally occurring borax (known by the trade name Rasorite–46 in the United States and many other countries) is refined by a process of recrystallization.

Sodium Tetraborate can be found in dry lake deposits in California, USA and Turkey. 
Furthermore, those lakes also provide other borate minerals that can be treat to obtain borax.
Sodium Tetraborate is naturally found in evaporite deposits which are produced by the recurrent evaporation of seasonal lakes.
Naturally occurring borax is purified by recrystallization.
Sodium Tetraborate can also be synthesized from boron compounds.

PREPARATION of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
Sodium Tetraborate is mostly extracted from natural source. 
Consequently, there are few industrial process to prepare Sodium Tetraborate by synthetic routes. 
Other important source of borax are the borate minerals found at the same lakes that borax. 
Sodium Tetraborate and related borate minerals are purified by recrystallization.


Sodium Tetraborate can be prepared from mineral boronatrocalcite by the following method the finely ground mineral is decomposed in a boiling solution to which soda ash and the sodium hydrogen carborate are successively added in proportion so that the following reaction takes place.


The reaction proceeds in two stages. 
In the first stage the reaction components are heated by direct or indirect steam in wooden vats which are lined with lead and provided with stirrers. 
A small quantity of bleaching powder is added to oxidize and precipitate the iron. 
The insoluble residue separated by filtration of the solution is still containing a certain quantity of boric oxide it is, therefore, charged into an autoclave with a stirrer, where after the addition of a fresh.


The mineral rasorite (kernite), tetrahydrate of sodium tetraborate is a very suitable material for the production of borax. 
Sodium tetraborate is a term used for either the anhydrous or hydrated form of the compound with the formula Na2B407. 
The decahydrate (Na2B407-ioH20) is also referred to as borax. 
Sodium Tetraborate also occurs without water of hydration and in that form is known as anhydrous borax.
Sodium tetraborate decahydrate. 
Red atoms are oxygen white atoms are hydrogen orange atoms are boron and turquoise atoms are sodium, publishers 


Sodium tetraborate is an odorless white crystalline solid or powder. 
The hydrated form loses its water of hydration when heated and then fuses (melts) to form a glass-like solid at higher temperatures. 
Sodium tetraborate occurs naturally as the minerals tincal (pronounced tinkle Na2B407 ioH30) and kernite.
Perhaps the best known commercial form of sodium tetraborate is called Twenty-Mule-Team Borax. 
The name comes from the fact that the first borax mines in California were located 165 miles from the nearest train station in Mojave, California. 

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
Sodium Tetraborate is a white crystalline powder. 
Sodium Tetraborate's melting and boiling points are 75 ºC and 320 ºC, respectively. 
Sodium Tetraborate density is 1.73 g mL-1. 
Sodium Tetraborate is highly soluble in water.


CHEMICAL PROPERTIES of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
Sodium Tetraborate in water form alkaline solutions.
In acid solution, Sodium Tetraborate reacts to produce other borates such as sodium perborate (PBS), a compound very used in chemical industry. 
Borax can also form boric acid:
Na2B4O7·10H2O + 2 HCl → 4 H3BO3 + 2 Na+ + 2 Cl- + 5 H2O

PHYSICAL and CHEMICAL PROPERTIES of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
Physical Description:
DryPowder
DryPowder
PelletsLargeCrystals
Liquid
OtherSolid
Powder or glass-like plates becoming opaque on exposure to air; slowly soluble in water.
Colourless-to-white hygroscopic crystals or powder.
Turns opaque on exposure to air.
White to gray, odorless powder.


Molecular Weight: 201.22 g/mol
Appearance Form: crystalline
Color: White
Colorless glassy solid
Hygroscopic
Light grey
Vitreous granules
White to gray powder
Becomes opaque on exposure to air
Odor: odorless
Odor Threshold: Not applicable
pH: 9,2 at 25 g/l at 20 °C


Melting point/freezing point:
Melting point/range: 741 °C - lit.
Initial boiling point and boiling range: 1.575 °C - (decomposition)
Flash point: Not applicable
Evaporation rate: No data available
Flammability (solid, gas): The product is not flammable. - Flammability (solids)
Upper/lower flammability or explosive limits: No data available
Vapor pressure: 7,3 hPa at 1.200 °C
Vapor density: No data available
Density: 2,367 g/cm3 at 25 °C - lit.
Relative density: No data available
Water solubility: 49,74 g/l at 20 °C 


Partition coefficient: n-octanol/water log Pow: -1,53 at 22 °C - Bioaccumulation is not expected.
Autoignition temperature: does not ignite
Decomposition temperature: No data available
Viscosity 
Viscosity, kinematic: No data available
Viscosity, dynamic: No data available
Explosive properties: No data available
Oxidizing properties: none
Dissociation constant 8,94 at 20 °C
OECD Test Guideline 112


Min. Purity Spec: 99%
Physical Form (at 20°C): White powder
Melting Point:    741°C
Density: 2.37
Long-Term Storage: Store long-term in a cool, dry place
Melting point:741 °C (lit.)
Boiling point:1575°C
Density 2.367 g/mL at 25 °C (lit.)
Vapor pressure 7.3 hPa (1200 °C)
Refractive index 1.501
Flash point:1575°C
Storage temp. Store at +5°C to +30°C.
Solubility H2O: 0.1 M at 20 °C, clear, colorless
Form: Solid


Color: White
Specific Gravity: 2.367
pH: 9.0-10.5 (25℃, 0.1M in H2O)
Water Solubility: 26 g/L (20 ºC)
λmaxλ: 260 nm Amax: ≤0.020
λ: 280 nm Amax: ≤0.015
Sensitive Hygroscopic
Merck: 14,8590
Stability: Stable. 
Incompatible with powdered metals
Elements: Sodium, boron, oxygen
Compund type: Salt (inorganic)
State: Solid

FIRST AID MEASURES of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
-Description of first-aid measures
*General advice:
Show this material safety data sheet to the doctor in attendance.

*If inhaled:
After inhalation: 
Fresh air. 
Call in physician.

*In case of skin contact: 
Take off immediately all contaminated clothing. 
Rinse skin with water/ shower. 
Consult a physician.

*In case of eye contact:
After eye contact: 
Rinse out with plenty of water. 
Call in ophthalmologist. 
Remove contact lenses.

*If swallowed:
After swallowing: 
Immediately make victim drink water (two glasses at most). 
Consult a physician.


ACCIDENTAL RELEASE MEASURES of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
-Personal precautions, protective equipment and emergency procedures:
Advice for non-emergency personnel: 
Ensure adequate ventilation. 

-Environmental precautions:
Do not let product enter drains.

-Methods and materials for containment and cleaning up:
Cover drains. 
Collect, bind, and pump off spills. 
Dispose of properly. 
Clean up affected areas.
Sweep up and shovel. 
Keep in suitable, closed containers for disposal.


FIRE FIGHTING MEASURES of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
-Extinguishing media:
Suitable extinguishing media:
Use extinguishing measures that are appropriate to local circumstances and the surrounding environment.
Unsuitable extinguishing media:
For this substance/mixture no limitations of extinguishing agents are given.

-Further information: 
Prevent fire extinguishing water from contaminating surface water or the ground water system.

EXPOSURE CONTROLS/PERSONAL PROTECTION of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
-Control parameters:
Ingredients with workplace control parameters:

-Exposure controls:
Personal protective equipment:
*Eye/face protection:
Use equipment for eye protection tested and approved under appropriate government standards such as NIOSH (US) or EN 166(EU). Safety glasses.

*Skin protection:
This recommendation applies only to the product stated in the safety data sheet, supplied by us and for the designated use. 
Full contact:
Material: Nitrile rubber
Minimum layer thickness: 0,11 mm
Break through time: 480 min
Splash contact:
Material: Nitrile rubber
Minimum layer thickness: 0,11 mm
Break through time: 480 min
Gloves should be used when handling this material. 
Suggested gloves: 
AnsellPro Viton/Butyl gloves style 38-612, 4/8 mil thickness.


*Respiratory protection:
Our recommendations on filtering respiratory protection are based on the following standards: 
DIN EN 143, DIN 14387 and other accompanying standards relating to the used respiratory protection system.
Recommended Filter type: Filter type P3
*Control of environmental exposure:
Do not let product enter drains.


HANDLING AND STORAGE of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
-Precautions for safe handling:
Advice on safe handling:
Work under hood. 

Hygiene measures:
Immediately change contaminated clothing. 
Apply preventive skin protection.  
Wash handsand face after working with substance.

-Conditions for safe storage, including any incompatibilities:
*Storage conditions:
Tightly closed. 
Dry. 
Refrigerator.
Keep in a well-ventilated place. 
Keep locked up or in an area accessible
only to qualified or authorized persons.
*Storage class:
Keep container tightly closed in a dry and well-ventilated place.
Keep in a dry place.


STABILITY AND REACTIVITY of SODIUM TETRABORATE:
-Reactivity: No data available
-Chemical stability:
The product is chemically stable under standard ambient conditions (room temperature) .

SYNONYMS:
Borax Anhydrous
Borax glass
Borax, fused
Boric acid (H2B4O7), sodium salt
disodium;3,7-dioxido-2,4,6,8,9-pentaoxa-1,3,5,7-tetraborabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane
Sodium borate
sodium pyroborate
disodium tetraborate
Boron Sodium Oxide
Boric Acid Disodium Salt
Anhydrous Borax
Borax Glass
Fireless B
Fused Borax
Sodium Biborate 
Sodium Borate 
Sodium Boron Oxide (Na2B4O7) 
Spraybor 
Boric acid, disodium salt
borax granular
disodium salt boric acid
puffed borax 
sodium borate decahydrate
sodium tetraborate decahydrate
disodium tetraborate decahydrate

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