Tincalconite and hydroboracite at non-ambient conditions

The main aims of this project are: 1) to assess, the high-pressure and the combined high-temperature/high-pressure stability range of tincalconite (ideally Na2B4O5(OH)4·3H2O), a major ore-mineral of boron, and hydroboracite (ideally CaMgB6O11·6H2O) 2) to unravel the P-deformation mechanisms of these two minerals, at the atomic scale 3) collect high-quality single-crystal data in order to solve the structure of their high-pressure polymorphs. In the last years, our team have studied several hydrated borates, each one displaying one (or more) phase transition at high-pressure in the P-range 1.6-17 GPa. the experiments performed so far suggest a correlation between the H2O content and the pressure at which a hydrated borate undergoes a phase transition. The study of tincalconite and hydroboracite will provide useful information on this theory, also providing data to model their behavior in neutron radiation-shielding concretes.