Bleser White Strobe

[Zmuro]

Barium Nitrate – 51%

Potassium Nitrate – 7%

Sulfur – 19%

Magnalium 60 to100 mesh – 18%

Dextrin – 5%

 

I made a 100g batch of this composition and it burns rather fast and almost no strobing. I used 140-70 mesh magnalium and the chemicals ware just screened through a 70 mesh screen. I don't know why they don't strobe. Any suggestions?

Bleser white strobe star

Edited September 14, 2008 by Zmuro

[yellowcard]

I have worked with this composition to, and it didn't worked that good either. Still better than yours. I used 60 mesh MgAl.

Maybe you should try to roll them in stead of cutting.

[al93535]

Screen all the chemicals 2 times through your screen, a 60 mesh or so. Do not screen the mgal. Add that in after you have screened everything else. Make sure to use coarse stuff +100 mesh at the finest. The finer the mesh mgal the faster the star will burn, and it will appear to not be strobing. I would use -80 +100 metal. These stars perform the best when pumped.

[Zmuro]

I made another batch this time with +70 mesh magnalium, cut 8x8mm cubic stars. I dry them a few hours and while still wet, still no strobing when I lit them. Is there any other white strobe formula that doesn't contain ammonium perchlorate or magnesium? Edited September 14, 2008 by Zmuro

[aa92td]

Do you mean Magnalium or Mg , Al (choose one duh =] )

[Mumbles]

What are you talking about AgwA?

[flying fish]

I think (though I could be wrong) he is asking if Mg/Al stands for Magnalium or if is a way of saying "magnesium or aluminum". I'm pretty sure in this context Mg/Al is an abbreviation for Magnalium.

[Miech]

Which mesh magnalium did you use?

[taiwanluthiers]

Was the barium nitrate ball milled? It needs to be a fine powder, not coarse in order to strobe. I made some cut stars and it strobed just fine. The barium nitrate must be a fine powder or else it won't work. I used 200 mesh MgAl and it still has a decent rate.

[burningRNX]

At what rate exactly? I can confirm that it has to be fine indeed.

[VikingPyrotechnics]

I only use the bleser formula and it works fine.

It have to be a very fine Powder! That´s all .

With different mesh sizes of the mg/al, you can change the strobe rate .....

[a_bab]

This compo works really well. It will work with a regular BP priming.

The star size should be on the small side. For cut stars, anything larger then 5x5x5mm will land still strobing, and this is for a 4" shell, properly lifted.

 

There are many variations for this formula, with PVC for a green strobe, and strontium nitrate instead of Ba nitrate for red (never tried it but it's supposed to work).

 

I always cut these, as this compo cuts well. The drying time is also reduced since the stars are so small.

Using 2-3 mm stars as cores works beatifully.

[mabuse00]

It seems to me that the size of the star has an influence on the strobe rate. It also varies with the velocity of the star flying to the air, cooling the star.

 

I made some comparisons with different mesh sizes, all stars where 10x10mm pumped, bound with 2% PVB and alcohol.

 

 

with PVC for a green strobe

It works, but only with a very small amount. There are other green strobe stars who call for hexachlorobenzene ect. - I could never get them to strobe with "common" chlorine donors like PVC or parlon.

Somehow the potassium nitrate in there must play a role. When I replaced the 7% with additional barium nitrate to improve the color, the result was no strobe at all...

[zAZO9a]

hmmm

[Zumber]

Is there any other white strobe formula that doesn't contain ammonium perchlorate or magnesium?

Try Hardt white strobe #1

Ba(NO3)2-51

KNO3-8

MgAl-13 (200Mesh-8, 100Mesh-5)

S-23

dex-5

-Swap

[schroedinger]

Maybe also try Yankies flasher

http://pyrosource.wikia.com/wiki/Yankie%27s_Flashing_Stars

Potassium nitrate 40

Aluminum (325- Mesh Atomized) 20

Sulfur 10

Dextrin 5

Boric acid 1

[DasKapital]

Yanky flasher comp is really good (and cheap!) but I think it might be a bit slow for a substitute for a strobe. From my experience with it, it flashes at about once every 4 seconds or .25hz

If you muck around with the formula, it just burns a steady white...

 

Also, this is my first proper post... Yay!

[psypuls]

This compo works really well. It will work with a regular BP priming.

The star size should be on the small side. For cut stars, anything larger then 5x5x5mm will land still strobing, and this is for a 4" shell, properly lifted.

 

There are many variations for this formula, with PVC for a green strobe, and strontium nitrate instead of Ba nitrate for red (never tried it but it's supposed to work).

 

I always cut these, as this compo cuts well. The drying time is also reduced since the stars are so small.

Using 2-3 mm stars as cores works beatifully.

 

I've never heard about this before. is it true that you can add a small amount of parlon or pvc for a bit of green strobe? and change barium to strontium for red strobe please confirm

[pex]

Yes that will work. There is somewhere on this forum a topic about green and red nitrate strobe. But i can't find it maybe some one can post a link.

[pex]

http://www.amateurpyro.com/forums/topic/3886-red-nitrate-strobes/page-2

[Dean411]

I use bleser white strobe regularly as star cores with all sizes of mg/al while finer metals give more shimmer and courser more strobe they all strobe in some way.

I woukd check the quality of your chems or the way you are weighing them.

 

Dean

[bengalPyro2000]

Can I use 100-200mesh magnalium??