Boron is a chemical element in group 4 of the periodic table. It has two naturally occurring isotopes, 10B and 11B, with slightly different physical and chemical properties. It is a hard and brittle metal.

The atomic structure of boron is hexagonal close-packed (hcp). It is a simple type of atomic packing that has the highest density of all simple atom arrangements.

B is one of the most abundant elements in the earth’s crust, and it is found mainly in rocks. It is also an important component of soils. It is used in many applications including:

Nuclear industry – boron-10 as a chemical shim and sodium pentaborate for backup liquid control systems in pressurized water reactors.

Outside the nuclear sector – boron-10 is used to analyze boron metabolism and so called boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) for special treatments of brain cancers and tumors.

Electronic industry – boron-10 as ion converter material in neutron detectors and a variety of electronic devices such as solid-state photonics, deep ultraviolet optoelectronics and single photon emitters.

Stable isotopes – boron-10 and boron-11 are produced using neutron beams for various purposes. They can be applied in the electronic industry when producing semiconductor silicon structures by ion implantation techniques, as well as nuclear engineering when designing neutron retarding elements.

American Elements produces over 250 stable metallic isotopes, as target materials and other applications. The boron isotope b10 is the most popular boron isotope for use in biomedical labeling and as a gamma reference source.