Considering the massive market size of adhesives and their importance in almost all sectors of materials and applications, boron likely plays a small yet definitive role in the adhesives industry. Unfortunately, recent peevishness over its unconfirmed toxicological issues poses a serious threat to the use of boron in adhesives. Regardless of the controversy, boron’s presence can cause significant changes in material properties in even small quantities. The seemingly innocent (some could say “boring”) element placed between beryllium and carbon has impacted our lives through its presence from agriculture to aerospace, from “Mummies to Rockets and onto Cancer Therapy,” as it was effectively addressed elsewhere.1
The association of boron compounds with human civilization dates back thousands of years. The name boron is most likely coined from the Turkish word for borax, “bor.” Boron as an element was unknown until it was isolated by Sir Humphrey Davy and Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac in 1808. Thousands of years ago, boron minerals, known as “bor” or borax, were traded via silk routes using sheep, camel, and yak caravans to transport borax from Tibet to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India, mainly for gold jewelry, preservatives, and medicinal purposes.