DeAdFX Posted March 10, 2007 Posted March 10, 2007 Name of composition:Composition Type:Colored flame/Colored sparklerCreator:Me, DeadFXColor/Effect: Red flame w/ sparks depending on metalThe Composition: (in parts) Red Compisition #1Potassium Perchlorate 1.5Hexamine 1.5Strontium Nitrate 5.5Metallic powder* 1.5Polyvinyl Chloride 1.0 Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqrtZCRREHw Red Compisition #2Potassium Perchlorate 2.5Hexamine 1.5Strontium Nitrate 4.0Strontium Carbonate 1.0Metallic powder* 1.5Polyvinyl Chloride 1.0 Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPhVTAqIDNc Red Compisition #3Potassium Perchlorate 7.0Hexamine 1.5Strontium Carbonate 2.0Metallic powder* 1.5Polyvinyl Chloride 1.5 Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmyWoVI8WNI Red Compisiton #4 [a modified formula I found off of rec.pyrotechnics original inventor unknown]Potassium Chlorate 6.0Sucrose 2.0Strontium Carbonate 2.0 RED compistion #5 refined #1Strontium Nitrate 5.0Potassium Perchlorate 1.5Hexamine .5Polyvinyl Chloride 2.0Magnesium Powder 1.0 *metal powder can be any of the following Magnesium, Aluminum Magnalium, Titanium or Titanium aerospace alloy. Aluminum Powder produces the weakest looking flame while Magnesium is the best. I don't have Magnalium powder so I cannot comment on that. I haven't tested these formulas without metallic fuels but I assume sugar might make a descen't replacement for metal part. One could also add sulfur and or charcoal for easier ignition or as a sub for the metal components. Any Precautions/Incompatabilities/extras:Nitrate/metal reduction (formation of ammonia). I believe that is it. I don't really think the second compisition offers any real advantage to the other two but I will have it there for comparison. Precedure/Preparation: Screen chemicals if necessary. Mix fuels together and crush any lumps. Mix oxidizers and carbonates and crush any lumps. Mix the fuels and oxidizers together and add your favorite binder or use the Polyvinyl Chloride as the binder. I haven't tried binding these compisitions yet but I assume around 4% dextrin would be acceptable.
Mumbles Posted March 12, 2007 Posted March 12, 2007 Its hard to tell sparks when the composition is not bound and in the air. With glitter stars for instance, on the ground a lot of them just slag up with very little visible sparks. Get them in the air though and it's totally different.
DeAdFX Posted March 12, 2007 Author Posted March 12, 2007 The red is very good in all three compositions (even if I didn't like the second one, too much smoke for my taste) but to tell you the truth I didn't see much of sparks. I don't think powders are the best source for sparks, I made better experiences with metall grits. But again, the colors are very good, same for your barium green.Actually in the second one the wind changed direction and started blowing smoke towards me. All three are fairly smokey. Aluminum will spark a lot more at the cost of color. Oh and thanks
tentacles Posted April 10, 2007 Posted April 10, 2007 deadfx: first, thank you for some excellent comps!! The red #2 is VERY bright! I used firefox's Mg "floor sweepings" and to avoid a water/mg reaction I used the pvc for binder with acetone.. It worked very well, i cut and dried them, they light fairly easy with some (almost) veline's prime, quite bright, the same slightly orangey red as deadfx's video. I did have a bit in the bottom of my ziplock container that I was cleaning up, so I put some acetone in to soften it, swished it around and rubbed it to loosen, then added some ethanol to about 50%, then I thought to add water - after the alcohol the solution was pretty much seperated, I figured the KP and SrNO3 would simply dissolve in the water. The solution turned into a grey glob that I was able to roll into nice little sticky (but not gooey) balls, and I dried these out just for the hell of it. They took fire like they had BP prime (yet no prime) and burned even brighter than the others I made. Not sure if i'll bother to try playing with this method again (except when cleanup time comes!) b/c it's a PITA.
DeAdFX Posted April 11, 2007 Author Posted April 11, 2007 deadfx: first, thank you for some excellent comps!! The red #2 is VERY bright! I used firefox's Mg "floor sweepings" and to avoid a water/mg reaction I used the pvc for binder with acetone.. It worked very well, i cut and dried them, they light fairly easy with some (almost) veline's prime, quite bright, the same slightly orangey red as deadfx's video. I did have a bit in the bottom of my ziplock container that I was cleaning up, so I put some acetone in to soften it, swished it around and rubbed it to loosen, then added some ethanol to about 50%, then I thought to add water - after the alcohol the solution was pretty much seperated, I figured the KP and SrNO3 would simply dissolve in the water. The solution turned into a grey glob that I was able to roll into nice little sticky (but not gooey) balls, and I dried these out just for the hell of it. They took fire like they had BP prime (yet no prime) and burned even brighter than the others I made. Not sure if i'll bother to try playing with this method again (except when cleanup time comes!) b/c it's a PITA. Well I know that Hexamine and Strontium Nitrate are very soluble in water and that PVC is fairly soluble in certain organic solvents. Prehaps an emulsion formed. Maybe there was a very intimate mixing of the chemicals? Its a thought.
tentacles Posted May 11, 2007 Posted May 11, 2007 Here's an interesting note - I was just playin in Excel, seeing how much chems you need to order for my various formulas (which isn't very many, really) and expanded to how much it costs per lb... Formula 1 actually costs less than formula 2 (based on oxidizers from skylighter thanks to cpsc). chem parts % 1 lb makes cost per lbkp 1.5 0.15 6.33 1.06SrNO3 4 0.42 2.375 2.53hexa 1.5 0.157 6.33 0.947Mg 1.5 0.157 6.33 0.947saran 1 0.105 9.5 0.63 $6.12 per lb of stars The "1 lb makes" means 1 lb of the chemical makes x lb of stars.I used Saran in my example because I am going to switch to using just one chlorine donor. The price is negligibly different from PVC.
tentacles Posted May 13, 2007 Posted May 13, 2007 I HATE to double post, but ... movie! http://www.apcforum.net/files/redstars.avi 2.2mb Shot this up, not sure how far it went up but this 3mm visco seems to burn quite a bit faster than the 2.2mm I had been using. Maybe I'll switch to using the 2.2 for the time fuse again. Info on the shell: 1 3/4" easter egg, hot glued together.. I'm experimenting with different methods for inserting the break, and I used puffed wheat with meal powder, and .4g of hot flash. Not a very good break, and I don't think many stars lit up. I'll insert a picture of the stars, they are granulated through an 8 mesh hardware cloth screen, very small. I would like to point out that the stars are not primed! My launch tube I just got from cannonfuse, it's one of their 1 7/8" fiberglass guns, and I'm thinking my 9.4g of lift is maybe a bit much (it's firefox charcoal). I shot another shell, with blue stars, that didn't go very high (early break). I used 1g of flash on that one, with a much bigger break. Also didn't prime those stars, with better ignition (than these).
DeAdFX Posted May 19, 2007 Author Posted May 19, 2007 Ok I just tried using methylene chloride for binding these stars. I must say methylene chloride hands down is the way to go even with toxicity taking into concern. The stars catch fire fairly easily from a torch even when they have some solvent present. Now if your concerned about cancer and all that other fun shit then I recommend using parlon/acetone instead. When my BP is done I will try posting a stargun test. I think I might make some of my green stars too.. Kinda lazy at the moment EDIT: My bad I neglected to mention that I already had a mix of 50/50 acetone/ethanol in my stars already... So I guess a 25/25/50 of acetone/ethanol/methylene chloride is the way to go
Recommended Posts