Reaction steps and mechanisms of the thermal dehydration of lithium metaborate dihydrate were investigated by means of thermoanalytical measurements, high temperature powder X-ray diffractometry, FT-IR spectroscopy, and microscopic observations. The first half of thermal dehydration was characterized by the melting of the sample producing viscous surface layer, the formation of bubbles on the particle surfaces, and the sudden mass-loss taking place by an opportunity of cracking and/or bursting of the bubble surface layer. The second half of the dehydration with a long-tailed mass-loss process in a wide temperature region was divided further into three distinguished reaction steps by the measurements of controlled rate thermal analysis. During the course of the thermal dehydration, four different poorly crystalline phases of intermediate hydrates were observed, in addition to an amorphous phase produced by an isothermal annealing. Just after completing the thermal dehydration, an exothermic DTA peak of the crystallization of beta-LiBO2 Was appeared at around 750 K. The phase transition from beta-LiBO2 to alpha-LiBO2 was observed in the temperature range of 800-900 K, which subsequently melted by indicating a sharp endothermic DTA peak with the onset temperature at 1101.4 +/-0.6 K. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.