The best flash powder

[seabisquit2]

Barium Nitrate...can't beat the Loud Thump!

The best.....

Potassium Perchlorate... 60

 

Magnalum... 35

 

antimony trisulfide... 5

 

HOT and FAST

 

 

 

[seabisquit2]

generally i just use 70/30 flash which works fin but i saw cplmac's red flash and i wanted to try it i couldn't make it so i tried green flash:

 

potassium perchlorate.............................6

barium nitrate....................................3

Aluminum powder...................................5

 

i used dark pyro aluminum.

 

anyway it burnt super fast no time to even see any color whatsoever im not. its possible this flash isn't special but was so fast because i spent 10 minutes mixing 10 grams but if not it is very fast and very powerful will get vid soon...

[dagabu]

Better known as green flash...one of the best and loudest Deep Bang I have heard!!!! VERYYYY Impressive when mixed with very fine powder.

 

 

 

Barium Nitrate...can't beat the Loud Thump!

 

 

 

 

 

Well, you do like to hear yourself post....

 

-dag

[taiwanluthiers]

44 dollars per Kg for chlorates, and twice that for perchlorates... man I thought I was paying through the nose for lab grade oxidizers... that's twice of what it costs me.

 

It never crossed my mind to use permanganates, because of the dangers I read, and economy hardly makes any sense with flash powder because I don't make a large amount of them like I do with stars, and I can't use permanganates in stars.

 

I did some test with 250 mesh MgAl powders with chlorates, perchlorates, and nitrate/sulfur. The perchlorate gave the best performance, while chlorates gave good performance but not as good (it may have to do with the way I prepared it), and potassium nitrate and sulfur gave respectable performance but definitely not as good as perchlorates. Of course potassium nitrate would be the cheapest oxidizer to use however it's not really that strong as an oxidizer. I then got some German Dark aluminum and the performance is actually better than 250 mesh MgAl.

 

If you need better brisance than 70/30 flash then you might consider using high explosives... it's not really an important property to have in fireworks unless you need to break something loosely confined very well... pasting/spiking will more than make up for the lack of brisance of most pyro explosives.

 

I just stuck with perchlorate and aluminum based flash powder. It's strong enough (I don't doubt there is stronger stuff out there) so it works for the purpose. The flash I took out of some consumer firecracker is really weak compared to 70/30 flash so I don't know what they use... the grade of the aluminum powder has a huge impact on the performance... 70/30 with spherical aluminum will not ignite at all, you need to bump it to 50/50 and even then it doesn't produce much report, but it does produce a lot of light.

 

I elected to not work with chlorates because I don't trust my organization skill to keep them from anything that may contain sulfur... they're great as far as oxidizers are concerned but it is a little sensitive.

Edited September 5, 2012 by taiwanluthiers

[psyco_1322]

Anyone of your noob idiots realize this thread is 6 YEARS OLD!?

[CrossOut]

quick post here...

 

Green flash

 

BaClO3 - 4

Dark Al - 2

Antimony Sulphide - 1

S - 1

 

Red Flash

 

KClO4 - 7

Stront Carbonate - 1.5

Stront Oxalate - 1.5

Mg - 2

Red Gum - 1

[optimus]

quick post here...

 

Green flash

 

BaClO3 - 4

Dark Al - 2

Antimony Sulphide - 1

S - 1

 

Red Flash

 

KClO4 - 7

Stront Carbonate - 1.5

Stront Oxalate - 1.5

Mg - 2

Red Gum - 1

 

Interesting, thanks for sharing. Do you have any notes or a source for these?

[DetaDude]

I have played with flash off and on for over sixty years and by accident I came across a fomula that was 2 micron Mg + KClO3 + SbS3 + S and let me tell you it is in every way very sensitive but extremely LOUD and does not require confinement to go bang. .

And no its not even safe by any stretch of the imagination. If I do need it for some special reason I mix it by remote control and CCTV.

Edited November 5, 2012 by DetaDude

[Potassiumchlorate]

This one is relatively safe and incredibly powerful:

 

Potassium perchlorate 50

Potassium dichromate 5

Magnesium <63µm 45

 

The potassium perchlorate and potassium dichromate should be milled together for one hour in an efficient ballmill like mine - 90 rpm.

 

Diaper it.

 

The potassium dichromate inhibits any reaction between the perchlorate and magnesium during mixing and storage but works as a catalyst for the perchlorate once the mix is ignited.

[AirCowPeacock]

I always use

 

42.4% Iodine Trichloride

11.5% Potassium Permanganate

11.5% Potassium Perchlorate

31.9% Neodymium powder

1.5% Calcium Hydride

1.3% Calcium Carbide

 

It's pretty good, and safer than some of the other flash powders I've tried. Ive always had issues getting my flash powder to bang--but this one really worked out for me.

Edited November 6, 2012 by AirCowPeacock

[dangerousamateur]

I suppose this is a joke?

[Potassiumchlorate]

You are kidding, right?

[AirCowPeacock]

Yeah, I'm kidding. I'm sure this mix would spontaneously ignite at room temperature. I'm trying to say that the search for the best flash powder is silly. 70:30 works great, and Shimizu #3 works even better. Nothing more powerful is needed. The people using KMnO4 are dumb--Ive tried that mix in tiny quantities for experimentation. Its scary how easily it lights--and even seems, get this...weaker then 70:30. But I havn't made 10g and put it in a salute! I like all my fingers.

 

Not to mention where would I even get Iodine Trichloride or Neodymium powder? I don't think I would want to make either...

Edited November 8, 2012 by AirCowPeacock

[hct0194]

Are you saying that your using KMnO4 flash as lift powder and in pistol shells!? Metal shrapnel from a handgun is not something you want to be hit by!

 

 

 

Update: Today I tried pot. perchlorate and 500-600 mesh MgAl in a 70/30 ratio and Tested 1/10 of a gram of it expecting a bang/pop...it ended up burning like a flare. Maybe I messed up when I was weighing it, I'll have to try again later.

Yeah that ratio of KClO4 & MgAl acts like a flare and at that it seems like you have told hold a torch to it. try 5:5 it works better

[AussieBombTech]

I know you all think that KNO3/Al/S is shit, but i really recomend it to you if you have Al like 400~mesh. I mill my KNO3 with S in 55/20 for around 2hours ,then i mix it with another 25 parts of my ~400 Al. I carefully mix it and so... i have a really goood flash. It burns kinda slow,but when you make a salute with really good casing ,it makes a hell of a sound... i made some test with kmno4/al vs. kno3/al/s and in different conditions kno3/al/s was even louder!!! Although no stronger than kmno4/al,it is really stronger,but i say you people,kno3/al/s is sometimes even louder!! And it is really safe if you add boric acid to it, to reduce the reaction between KNO3/Al .

I use kmno4 as my main flash, I just tried a new mix with 3g kno3 3g mgal and 4g kmno4. Takes the instability away and is still rather powerful. The mgal is -325 and the oxidisers are like fine sand

[dagabu]

Thats super dumb.

[mx5kevin]

The best and most powerful flash powder after 10 year research. And the perfect flash powder for extreme loud mini firecrackers.

 

KClO4 Al S 50/40/10% with 3-7 micron aluminum powder.

 

The strongest KClO4/Al/S ratio, does not need to protect the aluminum with boric acid in this FP (see the Shimizu book), good storage stability and sufficiently resistant for shock and friction, extreme loud and powerful flash powder, the KClO4+Sulfur 5:1 ratio not flammable so it can even be milled together in a ball mill, extreme bright flash powder, working with coarser aluminum powder. Using 20 micron aluminum powder for large ground salutes very effective. With blue aluminum or mixed blue aluminum with dark 80:20 large, bright are the effect. 1,5g in a polumna (triangle) firecracker are 1 miles away can hear the extreme powerful sound. In a paper tube (using 40% sodium silicate and copy paper tubes) the performance can not be compared to: KNO3, KMnO4, Ba(NO3)2 mixtures.

 

Videos, test and more detailed descriptions about this flash powder: Blog, Document and video files , Video files ,

Edited November 7, 2020 by mx5kevin

[Carbon796]

Have you been watching too many infomercials ?

[Piccaso]

I've been working on my kno3/mg flash powder. It's suposed to be realy good, and i need a break charge now that I'm moving to larger shells, but i just cant get it to ignite even with very fine kn03 and mg. I use Grant's stump remover as my sorce of kn03 (ball milled excesively), and fine mg dust I sanded down. Any idea what my problem is? If so, I could use a solution! Thanks.

Multiple reasons. Your metal particle size is much to large. Grants stump remover according to the MSDS is only 35% kno3. So not only are you using much to large pieces of metal you are also under oxidizing your mixture. On top of all of that the other ingredients in the stump remover are

Ammonium Sulfate 12.5%, Monoammonium Phosphate 15% and Potassium sulfate 37.5%. I am not a chemist but I am pretty sure these will not help. You need to source pure kno3 or find a brand of stump remover that is mostly all kno3 like Spectracide brand. Just google potassium nitrate it is availible online for less the $2 a pound.

Edited November 11, 2020 by Piccaso

[Piccaso]

Opps didn't realize this was an ancient thread.

[ronmoper76]

The best and most powerful flash powder after 10 year research. And the perfect flash powder for extreme loud mini firecrackers.

 

KClO4 Al S 50/40/10% with 3-7 micron aluminum powder.

 

The strongest KClO4/Al/S ratio, does not need to protect the aluminum with boric acid in this FP (see the Shimizu book), good storage stability and sufficiently resistant for shock and friction, extreme loud and powerful flash powder, the KClO4+Sulfur 5:1 ratio not flammable so it can even be milled together in a ball mill, extreme bright flash powder, working with coarser aluminum powder. Using 20 micron aluminum powder for large ground salutes very effective. With blue aluminum or mixed blue aluminum with dark 80:20 large, bright are the effect. 1,5g in a polumna (triangle) firecracker are 1 miles away can hear the extreme powerful sound. In a paper tube (using 40% sodium silicate and copy paper tubes) the performance can not be compared to: KNO3, KMnO4, Ba(NO3)2 mixtures.

 

Videos, test and more detailed descriptions about this flash powder: Blog, Document and video files , Video files ,

dude i looked at your site,You have a massive amount of data collected. You have information on practically everything,cool site

This is a site i have never viewed what do some of you guy think of it? He covers an amazing amount of topics and tutorials

from making about any pyrochem to building all sorts of fireworks. Its obvious he likes to blow shit up but i saw so much more when you dig.

How valid does a lot of this look? Anyone else on here use this resource?

Edited May 26, 2021 by ronmoper76

[SharkWhisperer]

dude i looked at your site,You have a massive amount of data collected. You have information on practically everything,cool site

This is a site i have never viewed what do some of you guy think of it? He covers an amazing amount of topics and tutorials

from making about any pyrochem to building all sorts of fireworks. Its obvious he likes to blow shit up but i saw so much more when you dig.

How valid does a lot of this look? Anyone else on here use this resource?

Not really all that impressed. Even using Google Translate to convert his Hungarian, there are a lot of errors (including chemical formulas). Pretty rookie stuff, but gotta give credit for folks that try to do things on their own if they can't purchase ready supplies. But making Mg/Al (he calls it Mg) with sandpaper? C'mon. A good portion of that will be aluminum oxide or boron carbide, or whatever the grit is on sandpaper. How he can tell he's gotten his metals down to single-digit micron size without a microscope is beyond me. "Boiler anodes of magnesium which is 75% magnesium 25% aluminum minimum 3X stronger than plain aluminum." I added italics. So 75:25 MgAl is 3x stronger, whatever that means, than pure Al? Nonsense. You'd think with this kid's ingenuity, he'd find a way to make a friggin' ball mill instead of hand grinding his stuff in a poppy grinder (hand-operated. For hours), mortar & pestle, sandpaper, or rubbing between two metal sheets. Safety? Not so enthused. He talks about passivating his Mg powder to make it less prone to unwanted reactions by treating with potassium dichromate, but never once does he mention that that shit is one of the nastiest carcinogens a fireworker will encounter. A critical omission. And no bright fireworker I know will, given the many other options, consider making flash with potassium permanganate, sulfur, and aluminum. And that's sticking within his 5g limit and grinding the KMnO₄ crystals to dust in a mortar/pestle for a friggin whole hour, hah ha!

 

I think you got excited when he was writing about willow for charcoal and then switched over to discussing hemp and showed a pic of a weed plant, kak kak kak. Or maybe you took a liking because his pic of granulated BP worms looks kinda like one of your past batches, tsk tsk? Then again, I've never thought to granulate BP using NC as a binder! It also doesn't seem like he updated his blog since 2007, because that's the prices he's referring to (in Hungarian Forints).

 

Overall, I give him a C+. For safety, a C-. For chem knowledge a B. For BP knowledge, C. For FP chem knowledge B. For FP practical manufacture, handling, and comparative testing--definitely a C. There's really nothing much new here, and I disagree with some of his claims (like Mg FP is 3x stronger, whatever that means, than Al FP, for example). And I just can't stop wondering about all those sandpaper abrasives in his metals, ack!

[ronmoper76]

Not really all that impressed. Even using Google Translate to convert his Hungarian, there are a lot of errors (including chemical formulas). Pretty rookie stuff, but gotta give credit for folks that try to do things on their own if they can't purchase ready supplies. But making Mg/Al (he calls it Mg) with sandpaper? C'mon. A good portion of that will be aluminum oxide or boron carbide, or whatever the grit is on sandpaper. How he can tell he's gotten his metals down to single-digit micron size without a microscope is beyond me. "Boiler anodes of magnesium which is 75% magnesium 25% aluminum minimum 3X stronger than plain aluminum." I added italics. So 75:25 MgAl is 3x stronger, whatever that means, than pure Al? Nonsense. You'd think with this kid's ingenuity, he'd find a way to make a friggin' ball mill instead of hand grinding his stuff in a poppy grinder (hand-operated. For hours), mortar & pestle, sandpaper, or rubbing between two metal sheets. Safety? Not so enthused. He talks about passivating his Mg powder to make it less prone to unwanted reactions by treating with potassium dichromate, but never once does he mention that that shit is one of the nastiest carcinogens a fireworker will encounter. A critical omission. And no bright fireworker I know will, given the many other options, consider making flash with potassium permanganate, sulfur, and aluminum. And that's sticking within his 5g limit and grinding the KMnO₄ crystals to dust in a mortar/pestle for a friggin whole hour, hah ha!

 

I think you got excited when he was writing about willow for charcoal and then switched over to discussing hemp and showed a pic of a weed plant, kak kak kak. Or maybe you took a liking because his pic of granulated BP worms looks kinda like one of your past batches, tsk tsk? Then again, I've never thought to granulate BP using NC as a binder! It also doesn't seem like he updated his blog since 2007, because that's the prices he's referring to (in Hungarian Forints).

 

Overall, I give him a C+. For safety, a C-. For chem knowledge a B. For BP knowledge, C. For FP chem knowledge B. For FP practical manufacture, handling, and comparative testing--definitely a C. There's really nothing much new here, and I disagree with some of his claims (like Mg FP is 3x stronger, whatever that means, than Al FP, for example). And I just can't stop wondering about all those sandpaper abrasives in his metals, ack!

I can see your point after breaking it all down for us,he took the hard road for just about everything and that hungarian translation is SHIT.And the permanganate thing is madness when there is a dozen other options. It's a bit crazy,imagine the hours he put into all of that,unreal

And yes the big weed plant had me thinking,lol I wonder if the charcoal would be worth all that work,imagine how many stalks you would need for 1lb of charcoal,officer i swear i'm not smoking those 500 plants out back,i grow them strictly for making charcoal.

Edited May 26, 2021 by ronmoper76

[mx5kevin]

Not really all that impressed. Even using Google Translate to convert his Hungarian, there are a lot of errors (including chemical formulas). Pretty rookie stuff, but gotta give credit for folks that try to do things on their own if they can't purchase ready supplies. But making Mg/Al (he calls it Mg) with sandpaper? C'mon. A good portion of that will be aluminum oxide or boron carbide, or whatever the grit is on sandpaper. How he can tell he's gotten his metals down to single-digit micron size without a microscope is beyond me. "Boiler anodes of magnesium which is 75% magnesium 25% aluminum minimum 3X stronger than plain aluminum." I added italics. So 75:25 MgAl is 3x stronger, whatever that means, than pure Al? Nonsense. You'd think with this kid's ingenuity, he'd find a way to make a friggin' ball mill instead of hand grinding his stuff in a poppy grinder (hand-operated. For hours), mortar & pestle, sandpaper, or rubbing between two metal sheets. Safety? Not so enthused. He talks about passivating his Mg powder to make it less prone to unwanted reactions by treating with potassium dichromate, but never once does he mention that that shit is one of the nastiest carcinogens a fireworker will encounter. A critical omission. And no bright fireworker I know will, given the many other options, consider making flash with potassium permanganate, sulfur, and aluminum. And that's sticking within his 5g limit and grinding the KMnO₄ crystals to dust in a mortar/pestle for a friggin whole hour, hah ha!

 

I think you got excited when he was writing about willow for charcoal and then switched over to discussing hemp and showed a pic of a weed plant, kak kak kak. Or maybe you took a liking because his pic of granulated BP worms looks kinda like one of your past batches, tsk tsk? Then again, I've never thought to granulate BP using NC as a binder! It also doesn't seem like he updated his blog since 2007, because that's the prices he's referring to (in Hungarian Forints).

 

Overall, I give him a C+. For safety, a C-. For chem knowledge a B. For BP knowledge, C. For FP chem knowledge B. For FP practical manufacture, handling, and comparative testing--definitely a C. There's really nothing much new here, and I disagree with some of his claims (like Mg FP is 3x stronger, whatever that means, than Al FP, for example). And I just can't stop wondering about all those sandpaper abrasives in his metals, ack!

 

In Hungary you will not get professional chemicals for pyrotechnic use. These must all be ordered from another countries. If anyone wants to magnesium powder easy get in Hungary the are the water heater magnesium anode the easy way. All chemicals in Hungary you will get in the the paint shop, farm shop, pharmacy, and the are the self made chemicals. In the case of aluminum powder this means you can get 60 micron aluminum, firefly (paint grade) aluminum, or you can made from aluminum foil. A few years ago even a safety visco fuse it was also difficult to obtain. My blog was written for people who make their own fireworks at home. There is no quality pyrotechnic educational material in Hungarian language. If someone doesn't speak English in Hungary even simple things can not be found by a user. A 325 mesh pro Mg, 3-7 micron pro Al, and etc... all are only available from abroad.

 

In the USA the user will working professional chemicals and tools. You buy them in pyro shops and simple make fireworks with these buyed materials like a pro. In Hungary you will get KNO3 from farm shop, aluminum powder from paint shop, water heater anode and etc from DIY store. A rock tumbler with ceramic grinding balls you must buy from another country. So a beginner can use a poppy seed grinder, the plate bar process, mortar and pastle, because these are available at nearby stores. And working people with KMnO4, Na2S2O8, KNO3 fertilizer, K2SO4, homemade KClO3, which should be written about, because these are what can get be obtained by here average users.

 

My blog name are „Tutorials for AMATEUR hobby pyrotechnicans”, who make DIY fireworks in the garage, and not tutorials for pro users! Hungary is in Central Europe, here we work with completely different raw materials than the USA users!

 

What I describe is references by professional documentation and external documents. In the videos, I show how was made, and how it works. A basic guide for beginners, who does not have pro chemicals, and results with my own experience. The content is updated regularly! Based on the latest results and experiences, the content has been regularly updated for years. I started this hobby more than 10 years ago, and I have been actively doing so ever since.

[mx5kevin]

The KClO4 Al S 50/40/10

 

It was originally developed for coarser homemade aluminum where 70/30 KClO4/Al burned slow. And with more KClO4, or more Sulfur the composition was slow too.

 

For small firecrakers i use 3-7 micron dark aluminum powder.

 

For large firecrackers i use 50:50 mixture 3-7 micron Dark+30 micron aluminum powder mixture to get a large effect. Or cc 20 micron around ball milled aluminum. Similar are a Ba(NO3)2/KClO4/Al/S 30/30/30/10 mixture with the same mixed Al, but there you must use 2% boric acid. The Dark+Mixed Al 50:50 mixture operates under 40 micron aluminum.

 

More:

 

The most possible extreme powerful professional flash powder

 

Whats the most powerful professional flash powder what you can make at home,safe,extreme bright,the voice is sharp, and the destruction power was amazing too.About 10 year research i find the perfect flash powder. I tested all possible flash powders with all possible of ratio this time. And nothing can beat it.This flash powder was the KClO4/Al/S 50/40/10% (Potassium perchlorate/Aluminium/Sulfur) with 3-4 micron german dark aluminum powder.

 

If you make firecrackers this flash powder was the best what you can make it at home. There are no disadvantages just real power.

 

But why:

 

-The mixture was absolute stable and safe, safer than the similar M46 formula.The mixture was absolute professional mixture.

 

-The mixture are more powerful with 3-4 micron aluminum powder than the KClO4+Mg 50/50 mixture what used in M80 salutes.Much more brighter and effective.Its have the KClO4/Mg/S flash powder 50/40/10% (with 400 mesh magnesium powder) all power and extreme sound.Plus its much more stable than a KClO4/Mg 50/50 mixture.

 

-When you use 20 micron aluminum or blue aluminum in large firecracker have a big effect.The metal powder rich composition some of the metal powder burn in air and not the oxidizer burns it so you will see much better and brighter flash effect.The same technique what used in photoflash powders.

 

But in flash effect its almost have the Ba(NO3)2 flash powders extreme bright big effect.1,5g in a polumna (triangle) firecracker are 1,5 km far away can hear the extreme powerful sound. And the flash effect in the night are

brightly shiny.

 

-The ratio was the most strongest KClO4 Al S ratio.Works with coarser aluminum too.The ratio beat all another KClO4/Al/S ratios.

 

-When you directly ignite it its not faster than other flash powders.But is you put in a paper tube performance can not be compared to other mixtures like:KNO3,KMNO4,Ba(NO3)2,mixtures.

 

-Its a all in one flash powder: extreme bright,extreme sound,safe,extreme power,plus a professional mixture.

 

-The KClO4 and sulfur does not attack the aluminum, so you does not need to use boric acid to protect the aluminum.

 

-Sulfur and aluminum powder are cheap and easy to buy. No extra special costly ingredients are needed what you does not use from something else.

 

The extreme powerful KClO4 flash powder using a ball mill:The finely powdered 24h in a ball mill milled potassium perchlorate 200°C-300°C heated and cooled down. Than at room temperature mixed with sulfur powder at 5:1 ratio than milled again in a ball mill more 12 hour the 2 component. And mixed 6:4 with 3-4 micron dark aluminum powder, and sifted in a sieve 3-4 times.Thereafter are thoroughly mixed in a mortar and paste in small doses so that the constituents are well mixed and sifted in a sieve again.If the components they are not well-mixed to a homogeneous powder the flash powder will minimum 50% it will be weaker. With KClO4 potassium perchlorate the mixture are stable and highly resistance for friction. And the KClO4+S 5:1 mixture is not flammable. If you carefully mixed together the ingredients mixed in a mortal and pastle to make the ingredients homogeneous.Its will be more than 50% powerful as if the mixtures were just shaken together.Before you use sieve through a sieve so that the powder gets loosened.The mixture are largely resistance for friction so you can safely make it.

 

But then why is not it so well known like the classic KClO4/Al 70/30 or KClO4/Mg 50:50 mixture?

 

In professional pyrotechnics one of the goals is cheapness.The other thing is that the mixture is too strong.In homemade pyrotechnics the KClO4 are a costly material.So people use the classic mixtures.Another thing KClO4/Al/S mixtures with more KClO4 or more sulfur you can easy slow down the mixture.Like the Shimizu flash comp 64/23/13. So find the most powerful and best KClO4 flash powder ratio and ingredients need several years of experimentation.

 

I made a lot of test videos from this composition with various aluminum powders: Homemade from foil, Dark, Dark+Blue, Homemade refined paint grade, 20 micron Al, in a extreme mini and 1Kg firecracker too.