X-Ray, Thermal, FT-IR and morphological studies of zinc borate in presence of boric acid synthesized by ulexite

Abstract

Zinc borate (ZB) is an industrially important flame retardant material and ulexite is a plenty mineral in Turkey. In this study, ZB was prepared via an aqueous reaction method using zinc oxide, reference ZB as seed and synthesized boric acid by ulexite as initial materials. This route was facile and acceptable for an economic and a new way to produce ZB. The products were characterized by X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD), Thermo gravimetfic/Differential Thermal Analysis (TG/DTA) and Fourier Transform infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to determine the morphological structure. The effects of experimental conditions on the product yield were investigated. Namely, the main factors that affect the formation of ZB were H3BO3/ZnO (boric acid/zinc oxide) ratio, water volume, amount of seed (in terms of boric acid, w/w) and reaction time. In conclusion, it was observed that boric acid by using ulexite and ZB was synthesized successfully.