Nitrocellulose, acetone and KMnO4

[nils]

I usually do my pyrogen for electric igniters like that: I dissolve ping-pong balls in acetone, then add powdered coal, sulfur and KNO3.

Yesterday I tried something different. I read that KMnO4 is soluble in acetone, tried it out separately and it really was soluble in acetone. I dissolved ping-pong balls in acetone, then added KMmO4 - the mixture transformed from thick paste to solid rubber like material.

Any idea what reaction happened?

[MadMat]

Hmm... I am no expert by any means, but I do know that potassium permanganate is a fairly strong oxidizer and was even used, mixed with glycerin, in the past as a timed ignition agent by arsonists. (modern forensics can find it too easily now). So, I am thinking that mixing it with the fuel in the ping-pong balls wouldn't be the best idea. I say fuel because not all ping-pong balls are nitrocellulose.

Edited April 4, 2018 by MadMat

[Arthur]

ALSO, just because it's a ping pong ball and soluble in acetone doesn't mean it's a NC ball. Most ping pong balls are NOT NC.

[MadMat]

I believe the other option in ping-pong ball material is cellulose acetate.

[Ignioapathy]

I know this topic is a bit old but I was having issues finding ping pong balls with any regularity in my area so I switched to making my NC lacquer with smokeless gun powder. I picked up a pound of it at a local gun store that stocks reloading supplies and it works great. The additives in it don't effect its solubility in acetone and I get a nice even consistency. For my pyrogen I just add meal d and sometimes a metal (Mg) flake to a small ammount of the NC solution.

[memo]

if you want to get some real weird looks from people, go to the store and sniff your ping pong balls, if they smell like camphor there is a pretty good chance the are NC balls. the ones I get are from china and are in a red white and blue box. good hunting and don't get banned from any stores

[rellim]

I a got bag of 50 3 star celluloid pp balls from Amazon for around 11 bucks Edited September 25, 2018 by rellim