My First Batch of Flash Powder

[FlareLauncher]

I'm wondering since I'm new to this, how do you tell the difference from one mesh size to another and where can I purchase screens? Also I'm wondering... I just purchased 2lbs of 5 micron AL but not the German dark. Can I just mix in the 5% by weight powdered charcoal or since it wasn't milled with the charcoal in the first place will it forever be non reactive?

Last I knew, Skylighter was a good place for screens. I bought Stainless Steel kitchen screens and counted the holes to determine mesh. Worked well for larger mesh, but had to buy 'purposed' screens for the finer sides. IU have but 2 pieces of advice for you, First - When I make flash I spray down with static guard laundry spray. Second, Ask a lot of questions, and ALWAYS listen to Mumbles!

Good Luck.

[SeaMonkey]

From CrossOut

I will say, given mild containment, flash will detonate in small quantities..

 

firecrackers are a perfect example of this.

 

 

As a kid in rural Iowa back in the '50s, one of our favorite firecrackers was

Zebra brand from China or Taiwan. As good as they were, occasionally

we'd get a dud which had a fuse problem. We'd save the duds until we

had five or six then we'd have fun with them.

 

We'd break the duds in half, lay them on the ground and ignite the exposed

flash powder. They would just fizzle and produce several seconds of

shooting flames and sparks. Fun to watch.

 

Then somehow we learned that if we stomped on them while they were

fizzling the dud would detonate under our shoe sole with a nice thump.

 

In those days flash powders and other compositions that detonated under

those conditions were called "Fulminating Powders." The effect was sort of

equivocated to the detonation that can occur in gasoline engines with pinging.

[Jazzbass5]

I'm seeing the horror stories in the thread and it reminded me of a time years ago when I was first making FP and BP. I'd test my mixtures in a small pile in the driveway. Usually about 1 or 2 grams at a time, sometimes more for fun. My first FP mixes before I obtained my first Perchlorate were KNO3 mixes and not so spectacular. Then I mixed up my first batch of 70/30 with perchlorate and tried it... Holy crap. Uncontained and loud. Unfortunately, I was using little spare fuses from the center of firecracker packages at the time for test ignition and lit the fuse, it threw sparks and preignighted the flash powder, my ears are still ringing 30 years later.

Luckily I didn't lose any digits, and only burned all the hair off my forearm.

Flash powder is no joke, I never make more then 5 to 10 grams at a time and it still scares the crap outta me which is a very healthy attitude when making FP.

[WRAITH]

For my flash powder the composition is....

Potassium Permanganate 2 parts

Aluminium Powder 1 part

Sulfur .5 part

2% boric acid for stability

 

Very powerful when confined, stores for a while with no loss of power & relatively safe sensitivity wise.

[Zmuro]

For my flash powder the composition is....

Potassium Permanganate 2 parts

Aluminium Powder 1 part

Sulfur .5 part

2% boric acid for stability

 

Very powerful when confined, stores for a while with no loss of power & relatively safe sensitivity wise.

This formula should be avoided IMHO. Don't know why people try to use something other than standard 7:3. OK, for crossettes other comps can be used, to enhance burst or minimise light output.

[ronmoper76]

i will say as little as possible for a reason,but i have tried over a dozen flash powders in aerial devices and made pounds and pounds of flash in my life,i have even used a hammer and steel plate on alot of things,shimizus chlorate flash with sulfur is the only one that sorta surprised me,it didnt take much of a hit,other compositions flash and pyro comps in general, not so much, alot of shit i smacked the hell out of repeatedly till i got a reaction if i even got one at all.. i wont list any formulas its not important but basic 70/30 flash i believe is one of the least sensitive of flashes,i even read somewhere that they use a mill to mix it in china,i personally wasnt able to set it off easily,but i dont state that as a fact. i prefer chlorate/sulfur flash when im not building mortars,the lift charge will set it off everytime,YES IT DOESNT LIKE GETTING HIT WITH ANYTHING HARD ,But it simply rocks,doesnt take very much of it and takes very little confinement to do so. I never had it go off on its own EXCEPT in mortars because it simply will not work.,i also like magnesium flash alot,my personal favorite is a dark aluminum i mill on my own with a percentage of charcoal and magnesium in it,it burns on a spoon alone with no oxidizer so quickly it almost makes a popping sound,bought indian dark flake for example lights and steadily spreads till its all glowing,not slow but not quickly either. Dont get cocky with flash but then again you dont need to hover on your tip toes and hold your breath like its nitro-glycerine either.

[ronmoper76]

Mesh sizes are just a measure of particle sizes. You differentiate them by measuring what you have. This is generally done with screens, though very fine materials are measured in other ways. Screens can be purchased from a number of suppliers such as McMaster Carr, Grainger, or other industrial suppliers. Wire cloth is another search term that might help.

 

I'm curious what 5% charcoal by weight has to do with anything. That's not how german dark is made. Plus you more than likely have atomized aluminum anyway.

 

 

Crossout, Self confinement is different than detonation. I'm in the flash does not detonate under normal pyro applications camp.I would also prefer to further this conversation in the HE section.

i dont know the science but the addition of charcoal to dark flake aluminum is massive,try it out once. light it on a spoon..catalyst maybe?? majorly speeds it up,i also tried graphite and stearic acid and also magnesium. they all affect it differently and when i make my own dark flake i always add something to it,its just that much better i cant see why not to do it. i imagine not aot alot of guys making there own aluminum just for fucking around but i have many times and i honestly prefer my own versus many kinds i have bought from pyro companies, i generally use store bought but when im making something that i want a kick to,its my go to....call me crazy my two cents

[ronmoper76]

i have tried stearic acid,charcoal,graphite,magnesium and a few other things over the years while making my own dark flake aluminum. Charcoal effects are huge,so are magnesium,it accelerates the burn rate significantly,i never mill aluminum anymore without adding something to it,its night and day differfence, I use dark flake bought from pyro suppliers usually but often use my own as well and it makes alot of difference. Needs less confinement,less overall flash,more violent...i have no idea why but with no additive it burns ratrher slowly,slightly slower than store bought aluminum,add a few percent airfloat charcoal and its ALOT faster,add other things.. it burns instantly like flash cotton.... tried many things but dont have the scientific answer

[yardarmwheeze]

I must be honest, I always was scared to manage Whiste Mix and Flash Powder, but today I tried to make a little batch (10 grams) of Flash Powder.

Sincerely, this was not so "little", because 0,20 grams of this mix created a deflagration so powerful that I clearly perceived an air displacement and I clearly felt the collar of my shirt vibrate .

Also, the flash was so intense that partially blind me (and I was 3 meters far away!).

To make this flash I followed this tutorial:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q72ALpJ2BA

 

but I used the formula: 58% KCLO4 and 42% German Dark and I used a very thin paper napkin to mix the individually screened chems for no more than 1 minute.

 

I know for sure that this mix is very sensitive, but just to try how sensitive it is, I putted a very small portion of this mix over and anvil and I hitted it with an heavy hammer: nothing happened.

So, I tried to crush and crawl that mix with the same hammer: nothing happened again!

I expected for sure a small deflagration. Anyone can tell me about this behaviour? The powder works at his best, but was not sensitive as expected.

MinamotoKobayashi, there are several things that can be wrong with your mixture and one thing that I know is for sure wrong with this mixture. What I know is wrong is that your ratios of perc and al are way off. Stoichiometrically the ratios should be 34.182% al to 65.818% perc. A 70 30 ratio is easier to remember as well as to execute with a crappier scale but a 66 to 34 would theoretically be more reactive and have a better result (as well as being more dangerous so be careful). Also your perc could be caking or you could have clumps in your mixture or your perc can be of low quality. The caking can be solved by adding anti cake (1-2 percent fumed silica) and the quality can be improved by doing a recrystallization. You could of course simply buy quality perc on pyrochemsource or any other good supplier such as fireworks cookbook or Skylighter. Also run your perc through a 100 mesh screen before diapering so you rid the clumps and large particles. Don't worry about pushing the large particles through the screen, just use the runoff.

 

Edit- I forgot to say, don't diaper on a napkin or something with high surface area, this isn't that big a deal, but mixture tends to stick on the napkin or paper towel, and when making small quantities of flash that can alter the ratios a little bit.

 

Edit #2 - When I said to not push the particles through the screen what I meant was if you are actively making flash don't bother about pushing particles. The reason is because those particles will be much larger since they are cut to the mesh size of the screen. The finest particles should fall out first and you should measure from those particles that fall out first when combining with your aluminum. This saves time when diapering.

Edited February 26, 2021 by yardarmwheeze

[ronmoper76]

Interesting yardamwheeze. I will try that out.

[Carbon796]

The 70:30 ratio mainly comes about from economics. KP is generally much cheaper than the Aluminum fuel. It also doesn't need to be stoichiometricly correct to work well.

 

I generally use 8:3:2 which is probably fuel rich. Rather than oxygen rich, but it pops just fine also.

 

Color star formula are often slightly fuel Rich. To encourage colored flame production from the monochloride emitter.

 

Streamer comps are often even more fuel rich. To encourage spark production out side of the flame envelope. Using atmospheric oxygen to complete combustion. Rather than burning up in the flame envelope from supplied/excess oxygen.

Edited February 28, 2021 by Carbon796