bum Posted May 11, 2007 Posted May 11, 2007 Tried finding a way to produce black smoke-- I read in the Composite Fuels thread that adding 20-40% zinc creates massive amounts of black smoke... So my first question is, are there special conditions in which zinc produces black smoke? IE, hot temperature? Could I just combine zinc with an oxidizer and expect black smoke? How hot should it be? What mesh size should I use? Are there any other chemicals that produce black smoke? Thanks!!
DeAdFX Posted May 12, 2007 Posted May 12, 2007 Well I assume your composite propellant would consist of something like an oxidizer, fuel binder (Hydrocarbon), and zinc. The zinc is a fairly strong reducing agent so any CO2 that is formed will probably be reduced to elemental carbon. The black smoke is most likely elemental carbon. I am pretty certain if you overfuel anything with enough metal powder (al/mg/zn) you should get a black smoke. Or you could use polystyrene and (per)chlorate. Polystyrene burns with a pretty smokey flame.
asilentbob Posted May 12, 2007 Posted May 12, 2007 Zinc oxide is white... and if Zn reduces CO2 to carbon you might get a greyish smoke with ZnO and C present... I really don't know. Nasties like tar, asphalt, naphthalene, anthracene, etc. will give off black smoke when mixed with smoke mixes like KNSU... Don't know about proportions...Or how much black smoke for that matter.
Mumbles Posted May 12, 2007 Posted May 12, 2007 All the zinc based smokes I've seen were white to grey. Donald Haarmann posted a nice list on PML a week or so ago. Like Asilentbob said, the most traditional methods use naphthalene, anthracene, and the like. One other thing mentioned, be careful with compositions of naphthalene/anthracene with potassium chlorate and Sb2S3. The naphthalene/anthracene will sublime over time increasing sensitivity. When making stars it's possible to make it sublime much more slowly and waterproof by using about 4% "Caster oil". Note that Caster is not a mispelling. Caster is not Castor. Caster oil is a 50:50 mix of boiled linseed oil and grape seed oil. This question came up in rec.pyro a month or so back. These from my DB. Smoke HC black MK 3 MOD 1 Ellern #130 OP2793 Magnesium 19% HCE 62 Anthracene 19 Smoke HC black MK 2 MOD 1+2 ELLERN #130 OP2793 Magnesium 19% HCE 55 Anthracene 26 Smoke Black OP2793 HCB 50.0 Anthracene 4.1 A- Napthol 16.7 Magnesium 10.7 Potassium/Nitrate 9.4 Charcoal 5.7 Sulphur 3.1 Dextrin 0.5 Smoke star black Allen Potassium/chlorate 20 pts Antimony/sulphide 7 Naphthalene 12 Charcoal 2 Gum/arabic 2 Smoke dragon black Allen Potassium/chlorate 20 pts Charcoal fine 2 Antimony/sulphide 7 Naphthalene 12 Gum/arabic 2 Smoke black with Flame Allen [Jap] Potassium/chlorate 20 pts Charcoal fine 2 Antimony/sulphide 7 Naphthalene 12 Gum/arabic 2 Smoke black Allen [Jap] Potassium/chlorate 20 pts Rosin 1 Antimony/sulphide 7 Naphthalene 11 Dextrin 16 Smoke black Allen [Jap] Potassium/chlorate 20 pts Charcoal fine 4 Rosin 3 Naphthalene 14 Smoke pot black Allen [Hitt] Potassium/nitrate 7 pts Barium/nitrate 1 Stearin 1 Red/gum 3 Smoke black bulk Allen [Hitt] Aluminum fine 3 pts HCE 48 Anthracene 16 Smoke black bulk Allen [Hitt] Aluminum fine 5 pts HCE 24 Anthracene 2 Nitro napthelene scl A dust substitute 6 Smoke black Allen Aluminum 6 pts Anthracene 8 HCE 24 Smoke black Lancaster 3 pg324 HCE 60% Anthracene 20 Magnesium fine 20 Smoke black anthracene I Lancaster 3 pg375 Potassium/perchlorate 56% Anthracene 33 Sulphur 11 Smoke black Napthelene I Lancaster 3 pg376 Potassium/chlorate 44% This may have been I was referring to, except Antimony/sulphide 24 using dextrin. Worked very well but beware of Napthelene 26 of short shelf life and danger mentioned. Glutinous rice starch 6 Smoke black Anthracene Lancaster 3 pg376 Potassium/perchlorate 57% Anthracene 40 Hemp coal 3 Glutnous rice starch 7+
mormanman Posted May 12, 2007 Posted May 12, 2007 I don't mean to say that mubles is wrong and mubles may have posted some of these already but here the are http://i2.tinypic.com/6gwzrd3.jpg And I got this from thegreenman.me.uk they have some good stuff like coloreds smokes to if thats your thing so check it out.
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