ABSTRACT
Fluorine is a pale gas with a pungent, choking odor which does not occur in nature in its natural form, but instead in combination with other minerals to form fluorides. The chief fluorine-containing minerals are fluorapatite, cryolite and fluorspar. Fluorine is also found in a wide variety of organic compounds such as chlorofluorocarbons, which are much less toxic than inorganic fluorides probably due to fluorine’s strong affinity for carbon making these compounds more stable. The chart below describes the uses in industry for some of the different inorganic fluorides. https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">
Compound
Uses
Ammonium Fluoride (Neutral ammonium fluoride)
Used as an antiseptic in brewing beer, as a moth-proofing agent, in printing and dyeing textiles, and to etch and frost glass
Fluoboric Acid (Fluoroboric acid, hydrofluoroboric and, tetrafluoroboric acid)
Used in the electrolytic brightening of aluminum and other metal-cleaning operations, as soldering fluxes, as a catalyst and in chemical production.
Fluorine (Fluor, fluoro)
Used in the manufacture of a variety of organic and inorganic compounds, and in liquid rocket fuels and chemical lasers.
Fluosilicic Acid (Dihydrogen hexafluorosilicate, fluorosilitic acid, hydrofluorsilicic acid, sand acid, silicofluoric acid) Hydrogen Fluoride (Fluorohydric acid, hydrofluoric acid aqueous, hydrofluoride, anhydrofluoric acid)
Used in water fluoridation, electroplating cement hardening, timber preservation, removing mold, lead refining, disinfecting copper and brass vessels, sterilizing brewing equipment and chemical syntheses.
Hydrogen Fluoride (Fluorohydric acid, hydrofluoric acid aqueous, hydrofluoride, anhydrofluoric acid)
Used in chemical processing and dye manufacture, for separating uranium isotopes, to etch and frost glass, to clean iron and steel casings, to acidize oil wells, in the froth flotation of ores, and in the production of gasoline and aluminum.
Oxygen Fluoride (Fluorine monoxide, oxygen difluoride)
Used as an oxidizer for rocket propellants. It readily forms during the scrubbing of fluorine with NaOH.
Potassium Fluoride
Used in etching glass, in fluorination reactions, and as a preservative, soldering flux, and insecticide.
Sodium Fluoride (Common in many over-the-counter pest control products)
Used as an insecticide (for roaches and ants) and fungicide, for disinfecting brewing equipment, in steel making, as a constituent in glasses and enamels, for fluoridating drinking water and in dental laboratories.
Sodium Hexafluoroaluminate (Aluminum sodium fluoride, sodium fluoaluminate, cryolite)
Used as an electrolyte in aluminum production in ceramics, as an insecticide, as a binder for abrasives, in electric insulation and in explosives.
