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Neobor: A Borate for Improving Modern Living

:: Monday, July 27, 2020 :: Posted By Maryam Moravej

Speed. Quality. Affordability.


Modern manufacturing tradition says you can’t have all three. Yet today’s manufacturers must continuously strive to achieve that triad, improving their products and processes to provide customers with high-quality, long-lasting products at an affordable cost—virtually on demand.
 
Nowhere are those universal challenges more difficult than in industries that produce products that consumers don’t realize are essential to daily life. As the world’s population grows, people require housing that’s sustainable and affordable. Products that are high quality and quickly available. Materials that are durable and safe. But most people don’t think about the complexity of the products that make all those elements come together—reliably and consistently.
 
Borates are a key part of making that synergy happen. 20 Mule Team® Borax Neobor® provides the benefits of borates in a concentrated form, sodium tetraborate pentahydrate (Na2B4O75H2O), that manufacturers rely on for cost savings and precision in their processes. Neobor offers manufacturers essential benefits:
  • Produced through a consistent, controlled refinement process, Neobor is stable under ordinary conditions, making it easy to transport and store.
  • Both the granular and powder forms of the product are free flowing, making them easy to handle and manage when adding them to manufacturing processes.
  • Because it is concentrated, manufacturers can use more targeted amounts of Neobor in their formulations compared to other borate products, so it is extremely cost-effective.
These benefits translate across myriad industrial applications.

Borates ensure better performing glass and ceramics

Neobor is a source of boric oxide (B2O3), essential in glass compositions as a flux and network former. In addition, B2O3 enables manufacturers to control melt, providing a strong final product that is resistant to thermal changes, scratching, and chemical damage. Neobor also provides a source of sodium, and is used in combination with boric acid where it is necessary to control the sodium to boron ratio in the glass and frit.
 
Borosilicate glass is used for a range of specialty glass products such as optical glass and cookware, medical glass, and the glass screens on our electronic devices.
 
The versatility of glass is even more amazing when you realize it is what forms the tiny, delicate fibers in insulation and textile fiberglass. The creation of those fibers is made possible by the borates in Neobor, too.
 
The strengthening and scratch resistance that borates provide are even more important in ceramics and enamels. These versatile, smooth, beautiful products are used in heavy wear environments from industrial furnaces to kitchen floors to appliances.

Protection and prevention: Borates in flame retardancy and industrial fluids

Neobor is an invaluable component for ensuring the performance and reliability of many of the products we never think about—until they fail.
 
The borates in Neobor reduce the flammability of cellulosic materials used in construction. They act by changing the oxidation reactions of those materials, causing them to form a carbon residue called char. The char creates a barrier to combustion, significantly slowing and reducing the spread of a fire.
 
Neobor also protects ferrous metals against corrosion. That makes it highly useful in industrial fluids such as automobile anti-freeze and brake fluid, water treatment chemicals, lubricants, and metalworking fluids. These behind-the-scenes solutions make up a surprisingly important foundation for our daily activities.

Keeping it clean: Borates in detergents and cleaners

Borates have been used for more than 100 years to boost the cleaning and whitening power of household cleaners and detergents. Neobor’s concentrated borates are widely used to enhance some of the most important borate benefits for cleaning.
 
Soil removal is easier with borate-enhanced detergents because borates break up and remove fatty soils, then prevent them from being re-deposited. Perborates have excellent bleaching properties, gently whitening, lightening, and brightening fabrics without damaging them.
 
Most homeowners don’t think about pH control in their washing, but high alkalinity in wash water improves cleaning. Fortunately, borate-enhanced detergents benefit from the alkalinity and pH buffering capacity of those formulations.
 
Likewise, water that contains calcium and other minerals makes effective cleaning difficult. Borates and perborates improve water hardness by forming soluble complexes with calcium ions—softening the water and leaving no harsh deposits on fabrics.
 
Borates improve the effectiveness of household and institutional cleaners and dishwashing detergents, too. The surfactant properties of Neobor help remove oil, grease, rust, scale, and other particulates.

Precision formulations for the products we want—and the products we need—every day

Modern manufacturers do an amazing job of responding to the demands of their customers—even when much of the effort is behind the scenes. In order to meet those demands profitably, manufacturers continuously look for ways to optimize their operations and improve their products.
 
The experts at U.S. Borax understand what drives manufacturers in their pursuit of efficiency and excellence. Our technical support specialists have expertise across many industries and can work with your teams to help you get the best results from Neobor.
 
We’re ready to help you create the right formulation for your environment and process. And, whether you work with us from the outset of your project or need to adjust an existing process, we can help you ensure the right Neobor usage for consistency and reliability in your applications.
 
Contact us for more information or to request a product sample.

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U.S. Borax, part of Rio Tinto, is a global leader in the supply and science of borates—naturally-occurring minerals containing boron and other elements. We are 1,000 people serving 650 customers with more than 1,800 delivery locations globally. We supply around 30% of the world’s need for refined borates from our world-class mine in Boron, California, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.  Learn more about Rio Tinto.

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