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Difference between boric acid and borax: different physical properties, different chemical properties, different in use, different in safety.

Physical properties are different:

Borax is colorless translucent crystal or white crystalline powder. Odorless, salty taste. Boric acid is white powdery crystals or triclinic axial scale-like glossy crystals, with a slippery feel and no odor.

Chemical properties are different:

Borax is soluble in water, glycerol, slightly soluble in alcohol. The aqueous solution is weakly alkaline. Borax can be weathered slowly in air. It becomes colorless glassy substance when melting. Boric acid is soluble in water, alcohol, glycerin, ether and essential oils, and the aqueous solution is weakly acidic. The solubility of boric acid in water increases with temperature and can be volatilized with water vapor.

Different in use:

The main use of boric acid is used in large quantities in the glass industry, can cover the heat resistance of glass products, transparent performance, improve mechanical strength to shorten the melting time, in the enamel, used to enhance the luster and firmness of enamel products, colleagues wild time glaze drug and pigment one of the ingredients, boric acid has antiseptic, can be used as preservatives, such as wood preservation.

Borax can be used as cleaning agents, cosmetics, insecticides, can also be used to configure buffer solutions and the preparation of other boron compounds. Borax is the basic raw material for making boron containing compounds, almost all boron containing compounds can be made by borax. They have important and wide-ranging uses in metallurgy, iron and steel, machinery, military industry, cutting tools, paper making, electronic tubes, chemical industry and textiles. In glass, can enhance the ultraviolet transmittance, improve the transparency of glass and heat resistance. In enamel products, can make the enamel is not easy to fall off and make it has a gloss.

In industry, borax is also used as solid lubricant for metal drawing. In refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and other refrigeration equipment, welding maintenance is often used as (inactive) flux to purify the metal surface. Remove oxides on the metal surface; add a certain percentage of sodium chloride in borax. Sodium fluoride, potassium chloride and other compounds can be used as an active flux for refrigeration equipment in the copper and steel tubes, steel tubes and steel tubes between the welding.

Borax has a wide range of uses in industrial and agricultural production. For example, in laundry detergent and soap as a filler and enhance the surface activity (crosslinking), etc.; also widely used in glass fibers, welding non-ferrous metals, bonding jewelry, cosmetics, antiseptic, pesticides, fertilizers, antifreeze and medical disinfectants and other aspects. In agriculture, it is used as a herbicide, and is used in non-tillage area for inactivating weed control.