Inderborite : a comprehensive reinvestigation of its technological features

Inderborite is a hydrated borate (ideal formula:…) often found in lower fractions alongside with the five most important boron commodities (i.e., colemanite, kernite, ulexite, borax, tincalconite). Nowadays, Turkish mines produce more than 70% of the worldwide B-minerals (e.g., Sarikaya borate deposits, Baysal, 1973). Hydrated borates have been listed as critical raw materials by the EU (EU Commission, 2017), and, because of the high neutron cross-section of B-10, they could be used as aggregates in neutron-shielding Sorel or Portland concretes, enhancing their adsorption towards thermal neutrons. In the forthcoming decades, with the advent of fusion power plants, it is predicted that substantial quantities of neutron-activated elements (e.g., beryllium or tungsten), will be produced (Gonzalez de Vincente et al. 2022). The main goal of this projects was to: i) re-investigate, by means of a multi-methodological approach, the crystal chemistry (with a focus on the B isotopic composition and trace elements) and structure of inderborite (even based on a single-crystal neutron diffraction experiment), ii) assess the stability range of inderborite with respect to pressure and temperature even for potential industrial utilization of this borates, iii) describe the structural evolution of inderborite, at the atomic scale, with increasing pressure and temperature.