dgsh009 Posted January 1 Posted January 1 hi dear friends I want to use fertilizer potassium nitrate in pyrotechnics , is it pure enough for this? ( I read about crystallization process to increase the purity, but i read it seems is not necessary)
WSM Posted January 1 Posted January 1 Hi gdsh009, The trick to using fertilizer grade potassium nitrate in pyrotechnics is reducing the particle size fine enough. 100 mesh and finer usually works for most purposes. Another point is to get as pure a grade as possible. I used to grind prilled potassium nitrate to a fine powder, and even with the additives added for the prilling process, it worked fine for rockets and also reasonably well for glitter compositions. These days, if I were to get fertilizer grade, I seek out "greenhouse grade" which is more pure. It still needs to be milled to a fine powder, and works for all but the most exacting formulations. Good luck and Happy New Year. WSM
dgsh009 Posted January 2 Author Posted January 2 17 hours ago, WSM said: Hi gdsh009, The trick to using fertilizer grade potassium nitrate in pyrotechnics is reducing the particle size fine enough. 100 mesh and finer usually works for most purposes. Another point is to get as pure a grade as possible. I used to grind prilled potassium nitrate to a fine powder, and even with the additives added for the prilling process, it worked fine for rockets and also reasonably well for glitter compositions. These days, if I were to get fertilizer grade, I seek out "greenhouse grade" which is more pure. It still needs to be milled to a fine powder, and works for all but the most exacting formulations. Good luck and Happy New Year. WSM hi wsm So kno3 fertilizers have good purity for our pyro works. just need grinding and sieving. Happy new year too my friend.🌲
Zumber Posted January 2 Posted January 2 22 minutes ago, dgsh009 said: hi wsm So kno3 fertilizers have good purity for our pyro works. just need grinding and sieving. Happy new year too my friend.🌲 It's not easy to say unless you test it in batch. Pyro grade and fertilizer grade both are available and both have different purity. In India three grades are available PPP,PPPP,PPPPP grade KNO3 with increase in number of 'P' it's purity increases. 5 P grade is most purest and good for pyro industry.
dgsh009 Posted January 2 Author Posted January 2 31 minutes ago, Zumber said: It's not easy to say unless you test it in batch. Pyro grade and fertilizer grade both are available and both have different purity. In India three grades are available PPP,PPPP,PPPPP grade KNO3 with increase in number of 'P' it's purity increases. 5 P grade is most purest and good for pyro industry. Do you test other grades?
WSM Posted January 3 Posted January 3 On 1/2/2025 at 4:21 AM, dgsh009 said: hi wsm So kno3 fertilizers have good purity for our pyro works. just need grinding and sieving. Happy new year too my friend.🌲 Most fertilizer grades I've dealt with are in the 95% and higher purity and worked fairly to very well. If you encounter lower grades, they will give poorer results unless you make the effort to purify them, usually by dissolving in pure water and recrystallizing, drying and powdering it (the more times it's recrystallized, the higher the resultant purity). If higher quality KNO3 is available and affordable, I recommend using the best you can afford, depending on your planned uses. WSM
dgsh009 Posted January 3 Author Posted January 3 50 minutes ago, WSM said: Most fertilizer grades I've dealt with are in the 95% and higher purity and worked fairly to very well. If you encounter lower grades, they will give poorer results unless you make the effort to purify them, usually by dissolving in pure water and recrystallizing, drying and powdering it (the more times it's recrystallized, the higher the resultant purity). If higher quality KNO3 is available and affordable, I recommend using the best you can afford, depending on your planned uses. WSM So must be good for use. thanks
dgsh009 Posted January 3 Author Posted January 3 On 1/2/2025 at 7:02 PM, Zumber said: I have tested all. How they work in composition? (fertilizer & industrial grade) Are they effective and suitable for pyro targets?
Zumber Posted January 3 Posted January 3 PPP may work for fountain (colour star specially) it creates slow burning bp. PPPP is for slow priming and other bp based primes. PPPPP is superior among all of them and used for most applications like spolette,lift charge, stars ,burst charge and much more. I actually not prepared samples from agriculture grade. All above grades I have mentioned is from pyro chemicals supplier and they can be used for agriculture purpose too.
dgsh009 Posted January 3 Author Posted January 3 (edited) 1 hour ago, Zumber said: PPP may work for fountain (colour star specially) it creates slow burning bp. PPPP is for slow priming and other bp based primes. PPPPP is superior among all of them and used for most applications like spolette,lift charge, stars ,burst charge and much more. I actually not prepared samples from agriculture grade. All above grades I have mentioned is from pyro chemicals supplier and they can be used for agriculture purpose too. do you know purity percentage numbers of the grades? Edited January 3 by dgsh009
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