The chemical composition of copper slag reduction tailings is similar to that of CaO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–Fe₂O₃ system glass-ceramics. Utilizing the copper slag reduction tailings as the primary raw material, glass-ceramics were prepared by the melting method, offering an effective approach for the high-value utilization of copper slag. The effects of varying B₂O₃ content on the crystallization kinetics, phase composition, and properties of the glass-ceramics were investigated using techniques such as thermogravimetry–differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy. The addition of B₂O₃ reduced both the nucleation and crystallization temperatures of the glass-ceramics, thereby promoting crystallization and transforming the crystallization mechanism from surface crystallization to bulk crystallization. With increasing B₂O₃ content, the crystallization activation energy (E) of the glass-ceramics initially decreased and then increased. The predominant crystalline phase precipitated in the glass-ceramics was anorthite, accompanied by an increased precipitation of wollastonite. The glass-ceramic containing 6 wt% B₂O₃ exhibited the best overall performance, with a bulk density of 2.95 g·cm⁻³, a water absorption rate of 0.51%, a microhardness of 886.32 HV, and a flexural strength of 230 MPa. In addition, the mass loss rates under acid and alkali resistance tests were 2.2% and 1.9%, respectively.

Keywords: B₂O_3, Copper slag reduction tailings, Glass-ceramics, Crystallization kinetics, Properties.

This work was financially supported by Iron and Steel Joint Research Fund of National Natural Science Foundation and China BaoWu Steel Group Corp. Ltd (Grant No. U1960108); the Hubei Provincial International Science and Technology Cooperation Program (Grant No. 2023EHA013); and the Key Laboratory for Ferrous Metallurgy and Resources Utilization of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, and Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory for New Processes of Ironmaking and Steel making, Wuhan University of Science and Technology (Grant No. FMRUlab25-02); and Hubei Provincial Special Fund for Central-Guided Local S&T Development (2025CSA017).

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest and ethical rule that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

The manuscript was written through the contributions of all authors. Ju Xu: Data curation, Investigation, Resources, Writing – original draft and Writing – review & editing. Guojun Ma: Conceptualization, Investigation, Supervision and Writing – original draft. Zhibo Tong: Conceptualization, Investigation, Resources, Supervision and Writing – original draft. Yunjie Li: Writing – original draft and data curation. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.