potassium nitrate flash powder. not so flashy.

[danz409]

so i'm completely new to the APC Sean. i'm interested in making my own fireworks. iv got smoke and flash down. (flash by accident with this recent mix) i can make some great rockets. but also heard you can make some reports with potassium nitrates as well. so i tried a mix of 5 potassium nitrate, 3 sulfur, 2 aluminum powder ultra fine (working on germen dark. i need good ball mill media) however when i made the mix it was more of a fluuuuuuush powder. insainly bright though. i like that, i was going to mess around with magnesium for that. but i don't think i have to anymore!

 

any recommendations for a good mix for flash? iv already put a lot $ into equipment and sadly the scale i bought don't go into mil grams so the measurements could be off a good deal. i'm not about to go and make 100g of experimental mix...

[lobowarxl]

hi i dont know anything about flash my flash burns very slowly for some reason it takes like 5 seconds to burn

[Mumbles]

so i'm completely new to the APC Sean. i'm interested in making my own fireworks. iv got smoke and flash down. (flash by accident with this recent mix) i can make some great rockets. but also heard you can make some reports with potassium nitrates as well. so i tried a mix of 5 potassium nitrate, 3 sulfur, 2 aluminum powder ultra fine (working on germen dark. i need good ball mill media) however when i made the mix it was more of a fluuuuuuush powder. insainly bright though. i like that, i was going to mess around with magnesium for that. but i don't think i have to anymore!

 

any recommendations for a good mix for flash? iv already put a lot $ into equipment and sadly the scale i bought don't go into mil grams so the measurements could be off a good deal. i'm not about to go and make 100g of experimental mix...

 

It's the homemade aluminum I suspect. Despite what youtube and a mountain of idiots will tell you, it's impossible to make anything approaching blackhead aluminum in performance.

 

 

 

hi i dont know anything about flash my flash burns very slowly for some reason it takes like 5 seconds to burn

 

If you don't know anything about flash, then you absolutely should not be making it.

[danz409]

 

It's the homemade aluminum I suspect. Despite what youtube and a mountain of idiots will tell you, it's impossible to make anything approaching blackhead aluminum in performance.

 

 

 

 

If you don't know anything about flash, then you absolutely should not be making it.

actually its stuff i got off ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/251958582011?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

the potassium nitrate however came from stump remover. its supposedly (according to the MSDS) 100%

Edited June 16, 2015 by danz409

[Mumbles]

Ah. Even still, the problem is the aluminum. It's atomized, which is not suited to this application. It'd probably make great glitters though.

[danz409]

im attempting to mill my own mix with some charcoal. hopefully it goes better. also not being to get accurate than a gram is another problem i think i may be having. i ordered a much more accurate scale on ebay. ill do more experimenting when that gets in.

[Mumbles]

Good luck with your completely futile experiments.

[danz409]

Good luck with your completely futile experiments.

futile? do you have any suggestions? please share.

[taiwanluthiers]

30 micron is not even enough to make flash, but you may be able to make other things like glitters with it though.

 

German dark/Indian blackhead is generally around 3-5 microns.

[FlaMtnBkr]

Hopefully when you say you're attempting to mill your own mix, you don't mean mill your report composition mix. If so, you now have a time bomb going.

 

What you made is slow flash with bad aluminum. Unless the aluminum said specifically what it was (ie Ekhart xxxx), eBay won't have stuff good for an earth shattering boom. If flash isn't scaring the crap out of you, your aluminum isn't the right kind.

 

Also, flash usually refers to the stuff that explodes violently, not something that makes a bright flash.

 

Here is a tip. Read more before you blow your fingers off.

[fckiamdead]

so i'm completely new to the APC Sean. i'm interested in making my own fireworks. iv got smoke and flash down. (flash by accident with this recent mix) i can make some great rockets. but also heard you can make some reports with potassium nitrates as well. so i tried a mix of 5 potassium nitrate, 3 sulfur, 2 aluminum powder ultra fine (working on germen dark. i need good ball mill media) however when i made the mix it was more of a fluuuuuuush powder. insainly bright though. i like that, i was going to mess around with magnesium for that. but i don't think i have to anymore!

 

any recommendations for a good mix for flash? iv already put a lot $ into equipment and sadly the scale i bought don't go into mil grams so the measurements could be off a good deal. i'm not about to go and make 100g of experimental mix...

 

 

PotassiumNitrate and Magnesium 50%/50% is a good mix for salutes in the fx industrie. Keep it dry and keep safe!

[taiwanluthiers]

You need to read a LOT more before even thinking about magnesium based flash mix. They're more sensitive and less stable in storage.

[viziers]

Heck I still have almost a full LB of indian dark from 5 years ago that has been sealed in a bag inside a container and the container lid taped all around the lid. That's how often I use any type of flash composition....

 

However I may make a 10 gram batch and use some of Dabago's little yellow caps for some timed reports in the 4" star mines I am in the midst of making.

 

 

 

 

 

 

vizi

[OblivionFall]

 

It's the homemade aluminum I suspect. Despite what youtube and a mountain of idiots will tell you, it's impossible to make anything approaching blackhead aluminum in performance.

 

 

 

 

If you don't know anything about flash, then you absolutely should not be making it.

I am going to attempt to make dark aluminum powder in my ball mill that makes a "poof" with perchlorate. If that doesn't work, how do they make German Dark Aluminum Powder or Eckart that makes it so much more powerful? What is the process?

[OblivionFall]

Look, you can't expect to get flash powder that goes "poof" with KNO3/Al/S. Maybe with Magnesium, but definitely not with KNO3. The only guys on Youtube that get it that powerful use 0.000002 grams at a time and brag about how "fast" it burnt.

 

Your best bet if you are making salutes is to use 6/3/1 KNO3/Al/S and use Aluminum powder that you bought from a trusted website that isn't ebay. You have to have your end caps ridiculously strong so that enough pressure builds up for the Flash Powder to explode.

 

I'll make you a deal. You're pretty new here, and if you can prove to me that you can safely make and handle flash and are willing to learn the incompatibilities that Nitrate flash has, I'll send you the video I made that explains the best and safest way to make KNO3 based salutes which is what you are making. I'm not really with noobs making flash, but I know that they are going to anyways so I might as well teach them the correct way.

 

Contrary to what Mumbles said, I milled my own aluminum powder in 3 weeks from aluminum foil with crappy lump charcoal mixed in and it worked for me. I managed to make salutes with it. Using your own aluminum powder isn't out of the question, and if you live in Canada, it's probably your only option besides using magnesium. My aluminum powder made a woosh and burned fairly fast in a 1g batch, and I'm sure your can too. It's not going to be anything like KCLO4/Al flash, but it gets the job done.

[insutama]

What type of media did you use in your ball mill for milling aluminum ? Chrome plated steel ball bearings ? I have thought about trying this i even built a brick bunker in my backyard to put my ball mill in so if anything happened it would be harmless plus I would have it hooked up to a timer and open it in full welding jacket and gloves once a day to let it air out. I definatly don't think its a good idea to be doing without all the safety precautions I have my A ticket for welding and before I hired on the railway worked a lot with welding aluminum houseboats so I know how nasty Molten aluminum can be not to mention the uv Rays that comes off burning aluminum. Be safe if your gonna attempt this

[MrB]

If that doesn't work, how do they make German Dark Aluminum Powder or Eckart that makes it so much more powerful? What is the process?

A tiny bit of info is available here.

B!

[MudDuckPyro79]

here is a video that uses a nitrate based flash powder and titanium for inserts, unconfined it burns slower than b.p. but confined it does just fine an effect. But it does use sulfer and 5413H german dark aluminum from a known supplier. Mix was 5-2.5-2.5. I'm not saying to make this your go to flash powder but for what I was doing it worked for me. My norm is 7-3-1 but I was just messing around with fuse and delays using different types of fuse.

[limak]

I have good results using this flash even without end plugs in thick walled tubes, only paper. I always thought that nitrate salute must be well confined to produce report. I was really impressed with it. Ultra fine milled potassium nitrate and sulphur mixed with german dark 50:25:25 - in my opinion burning rate is little bit slower than pot perc with bright flake aluminium, still very powerful.

 

[pyroman2498]

Geez this topic made me cringe !

Lemme just say this , if you are gonna mill Al with chrome plated steel bearings than be prepared to have a disaster happen.

[FlaMtnBkr]

Our of curiosity, what disaster will happen from milling aluminum with chrome plated BB that wouldn't also happen with a different media? Namely the pyrophoric nature of aluminum causing it to heat up and potentially catch fire as large amounts of aluminum oxide quickly form.

 

I guess you could potentially alloy your aluminum with a bit of chrome or maybe even eventually add some red iron oxide catalyst or begin to make thermite, depending on how you look at it. But that's really reaching. Just wondering what I'm overlooking?

[MrB]

Speaking of which... I never used chrome plated media, but ball bearings are typically used for milling Al, since lead is to soft...I fully expect there to be "some" iron contamination, but over the years it still has to achieve noticeable wear on the balls.

[drtoivowillmann]

Friends:

 

Some of you know that I am a professional and work as Chemist and product development in a pyro-factory (actually in Germany).

I use Potassium Nitrate flashes since 30 years and they are good.

Standard formula:

55 % finest Potassium Nitrate

25 % very fine bright aluminum, for example the 999, from the Indian MEPCO-factory

20 % sulphur

+ 1 % finest boric acid

Only mix all ingredients and ready

ignites easily

 

Alternative formula:

60 % finest Potassium Nitrate

25 % very fine bright aluminum, forexample the 999, from the Indian MEPCO-factory

15 % sulphur

+ 1 % boric acid

Mix only Potassium Nitrate, sulphur and boric acid and mill it like Black Powder,

then sieve it and add the aluminum.

Not so easy to ignite, but stronger, like a Barium Nitrate flash.

 

Both flash and make thunder quit well. The thunder sounds heavier (lower sound frequency) than that of a perchlorate flash.

Important: "Black" aluminum is not so good here, the alu has to be fluffy or the velocity of combustion goes down. Best are very, very fine bright aluminum types

like 999 from MEPCO or TTT from ARASAN (also India).

 

Using the right alu, contrary to common flash, you even may compress them slightly at loading. Doing so, common flash powder will no longer work, but these ones even may become better,

 

I use these flash mixes most for breaking my coloured star shells. Symmetry of burst is better than with the perchlorate flash.

 

Yours truly: Toivo

[FirecrackerXL]

Hello guys,

 

Im new to this forum, because I've seen some interesting posts on this site so I wanted to join you guys.

I've got around 4 years of experience with fireworks. I started of making black powder, then after a while I started making flash.

 

Anyway, I started making kmno4 based flash, with spherical al powder (very low mesh) so it burned kinda slow and would NOT ignite with the ram of a hammer, it did not even ignite with a

blowtorch however it did with cannonfuse? It did work great for some firecrackers (used about 7 grams per cracker) and it would make a extremely loud bang.

 

So I used this for a while but I got kind of scared by reading about kmno4 online... I was thinking about switching to kno3 based flash.

The thing that kept me from using kno3 for flash, were these kind of topics, where they say that is is shitty and all. I just want to say some things about my experience with this kind of flash powder.

 

 

I bought some 4µm dark al powder, and already had some 99,9% pure kno3 and I just mixed a batch. Burned not very fast at all, in the beginning.

After some time passed, I made my kno3 way finer and mixed it better with the al (ratio 5-3-2, kno3 al s). Burned with a little poof (not spectacular or anything).

I put 3,8 grams in a homemade tube, made from kraft paper and wood glue, It was as hard as a rock, the walls of the tube were about 4mm thick. I finished it with a plastic end plug,

without glue, nothing, just popped the end Plug/cap in to give it a nice finish there was nothing holding it in place or anything, you could just pop it out by sticking your nail under it.

Anyway I ignited it far from where I live, I Ignited it and I ran away not expecting anything, but omfg the bang was unreal. This bang was louder then commercially bought 5 gram kclo4 al firecrackers!

 

So basically my kno3 al s flash works AMAZING. For new years evening I made around 25 firecrackers, reaching from 1 gram to 30 gram a piece. My friend and I just had a peep in our ears after igniting some 10 gram firecrackers also with just some plastic end caps WITHOUT glue. I ignited it 30 meters from my home and the windows in my house just shaked from the shock wave...

 

I Dont know how it happens to not work for you guys, but I just have one tip, put a lot of time in making the chemicals very fine (kno3, s) and mix them very careful and well. Use the diaper methode for mixing!

 

 

Thank you for reading this!,

Greetings

[justvisiting]

I'm a 70/30 guy when I use flash, which is not so much. Perc is hard to come by in my country. I would like to make flash using potassium nitrate as the oxidizer. The reason I have never done it is because I can't get past the feeling that the nitrate flash would be more sensitive to initiation, and therefore more risky to handle than perchlorate flash. It would be cool to know if my concern is unfounded or not.