Borates in automobiles
Your car is a complex system made up of thousands of parts. Many of them contain borates. Serving a multitude of functions, borates in automobiles are critical to ensuring the safety, durability, reliability, and quality we depend on to get us to our destinations.
Reinforcing the body and frame
If your car has an aluminum body and steel frame, you can thank borates, which are used in many common metallurgical applications. Manufacturers add borates to aluminum and steel, where they act as a grain refiner and hardening agent. During smelting, borates facilitate the formation of flux, enabling the removal of impurities.
In other words, borates help make your car body and alloy frame stronger and more resistant to corrosion.
Facing increased demand for lighter and more fuel-efficient cars, manufacturers are replacing metal body parts for composite parts. Composites are typically made from fiberglass and a polymeric resin. When textile fiberglass is produced, borates are used to make the process more cost and energy efficient by reducing the melting and fiberizing temperature.
Improving visibility with borosilicate glass
One of the most widely used applications for borates is in borosilicate glass. Comprised of silica and 5-20% boric oxide, borosilicate glass is prized for its strength and formability. It’s also resistant to heat, chemicals, shocks, and scratches.
Automotive manufacturers use borosilicate glass in sealed headlights and the halogen bulbs inside your car.
High quality and consistency are crucial in glass production for lighting and bulbs. Glass manufacturers must ensure they’re adding the appropriate type and amounts of borates for their formulations, otherwise they risk uneven melting performance, which negatively affects the chemical and physical properties of the finished glass.
Increasing fire retardancy and strength in polymers and rubber
In automobiles, polymers are found in multiple systems, including a car’s electrical system (wires and cables), carpet and upholstery, and foam insulation.
However, polymers are extremely flammable and any products using them may benefit from specialized borate compounds that can act as flame retardants and promote char formation. Borates are often found in a wide array of flame retardant additives to prevent polymers from igniting and burning.
Fire retardant capabilities are especially important in electric vehicles (EVs). These vehicles contain more wires, cables, and connectors than non-EVs. Plus, the battery of an electric vehicle poses a higher fire risk.
In tires, borates promote adhesion between the rubber and steel belt. Adding zinc borates to a tire’s rubber composition creates a strong, durable adhesion to the metallic part of the tire.
Enhancing EV batteries
EVs require lithium-ion batteries that rely on borate compounds for safety, performance, and long life. Borates are found in the electrolyte solution that enables lithium-ion battery capacitors to create and hold a charge—making them indispensable in battery and capacitor production.
Learn more about borates in electric vehicles
Preventing damage with fluids and lubricants
Heat, corrosion, and sludge are among the primary enemies of cars. To prevent them from causing major damage, manufacturers use borates in several automotive fluids.
Fuel additives
Boric acid can serve as a lubricating additive in fuel, which can reduce friction inside your car’s pistons. Less friction means your engine will lose less energy and run more efficiently. When borate esters are included in fuel additives, they help to keep carburetors clean and prevent pre-ignition.
Motor oil
No one wants sludge buildup in their car’s engine. In motor oil, boron improves lubrication properties and prevents sludge from forming.
Antifreeze
OIn addition to protecting engines in extreme cold, antifreeze keeps them from running too hot. Borates used in antifreeze solutions found in most radiators today provide these benefits:
Low freezing point
High boiling point
Corrosion inhibition
Efficient transfer of heat
Low toxicity
Brake fluid
Hydraulic brake fluids are moisture sensitive. If the temperature rises past the fluid’s boiling point, a driver can experience a loss of brake power—also called vapor lock. Borate esters are used in some brake fluids to lower the boiling point and prevent vapor lock.
Speeding air bag deployment
Every millisecond matters in a car crash. Even the slightest malfunction or delay of a vehicle’s airbags can result in serious—even fatal—injuries.
Fortunately, airbags are designed to inflate rapidly through a highly controlled explosion. Manufacturers can use a boron compound—boron potassium nitrate (BKN)—to initiate this larger combustion reaction responsible for filling the airbag with nitrogen air.
In touch screen displays
Automotive manufacturers looking to entice consumers offer advanced technology inside cars such as touch screen displays with navigation and entertainment features.
Specialized borosilicate glass is used in the production of thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal displays (TFT LCD) because it forms thinner and lighter screens, a major selling point in the market.