pyrogenius007 Posted September 22, 2015 Posted September 22, 2015 Hi, I am new to pyrotechnics, I have tried to make red and green stars but with no success. I think it is because many chemicals listed in the formulas are not available in the place I stay e.g. potassium perchlorate, magnalium and chlorinated rubber. I will give a list of the chemicals with me, can anybody guide me as to how to make coloured stars with them?(1) Potassium Nitrate (2) Sulphur (3) Barium Nitrate (4) Strontium Nitrate (5) Magnesium powder(200 mesh) (6) PVC powder (7) Potassium Chlorate (8) Zinc Powder (9) Sodium Oxalate (10) Shellac paste (11) Aluminium dust. I have been using shellac paste diluted with acetone as a binder since any water based binder reacts with magnesium.
rogeryermaw Posted September 22, 2015 Posted September 22, 2015 your list includes great chems for red, green, yellow and combinations of those colors and if you have charcoal, a number of glitters (if you have the right particle size and shape aluminum) and charcoal and streamer stars. strontium nitrate, shellac, magnesium and pvc would be a good place to start for red
schroedinger Posted September 22, 2015 Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) For green you can shimizu fast stars and and also pure Strontium nitrate stars work or a combination with chlorate. Mg is a perfect metal for these. Bht you should coat it first with linsseed oil or chromate at that fine mesh. If you use shellac to bind it is better to use ethanol than acetone. For a more turquise green you can make granite or streamer zinc stars. If you can't get red gum that some formulas call for, search for accroides resine (it's the same) or substitute with shellac. Edited September 22, 2015 by schroedinger
Carbon796 Posted September 22, 2015 Posted September 22, 2015 Red - Lancaster .55 strontium nitrate .28 magnesium .17 pvc Should be able to sub barium nitrate for green
pyrogenius007 Posted September 24, 2015 Author Posted September 24, 2015 I would like to thank all for the advice, I will try them out and post the results as soon as possible
Bcorso85 Posted September 26, 2015 Posted September 26, 2015 I would like to thank all for the advice, I will try them out and post the results as soon as possible Welcome to the forum. Parlon helps coat the magnesium making it better with water.But I'm curious, how do you have chlorate, but don't have access to perchlorate. *It is also dangerous to mix the sulfur and chlorate. Chlorate doesn't need the extra sensitivity. It is good practice to wash everything that will come in contact with both chemicals to avoid cross contamination
pyrogenius007 Posted October 9, 2015 Author Posted October 9, 2015 carbon 796, I have tried out the formula given by you and used shellac diluted with acetone as the binder, the red colour was good but very hard to ignite, I primed it with b.p with a little magnesium (coated with castor oil) still it is very hard to ignite, any suggestions?
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