Brightest strobe attainable?

[stug161]

Living in the country is nice. In July we like to buy the strobe pots and watch the tree lines light up from the light. I am wanting to make my own strobe/flare pots. I have tried a few mixtures and have been pleasantly pleased with the results.

 

Ba NO3 51

S 19

Mg 18

KNO3 7

Dextrin 5

 

Is probably my favorite. I have mag. turnings and they do fairly will, but probably not best. I have -100 Mg, but I dont know how it will act. I have Mg/Al, and a few different varieties of Al. Pretty much all other chemicals I have. I am mostly looking for intensity/brightness. I am gonna keep looking and maybe someone people here have some super ideas!

 

 

LOVE THE BOARD! Thanks, Robert

[Mumbles]

The brightest I know of are hafnium strobes. Hafnium is like $500 a pound though. The composition you have is quite bright. A finer Mg will increase the strobe rate, and possibly make it seem brighter.

[Seymour]

Is that composition not Blesser 26 with the MgAl replaced with Mg??

 

Barium nitrate burns very vibrationally with Magnalium, but I am skeptical that it will be as effective with finer Magnesium, which burns much smoother. -100 does work well with MgAl however.

 

In my fairly limited experience I have found the AP/Barium sulfate/MgAl strobes to be brighter than the Barium nitrate ones, but there is not a great deal of difference.

 

I personally would have assumed coarser metals would give brighter flashes, as the smolder phase consumes more volume, thus burning more metal in each flash phase. Obviously not too coarse, or you will never get a flash phase.

Edited August 1, 2009 by Seymour

[Miech]

Is that composition not Blesser 26 with the MgAl replaced with Mg??

It is. I never knew it works with magnesium as well, I had expected that would just make it a white comet rather than a strobe.

 

The composition works well when made with -120 +200 mesh magnalium. I pumped it into a 20 mm (3/4") comet, which gave a flash rate of about 1 Hz. I used not-too-fine barium nitrate though, I didn't feel like ball milling it.

[Seymour]

Interesting that that worked, because I've always found (and read) that for ideal strobes the oxidisers should be airfloat.

 

I'd say that the strobes Stug has made only work wiyth Mg because he is using turnings.

[stug161]

Thanks for all the replies! I would not completely classify the comp I am using as a strobe. It is extremely bright and does have a on/off cycle, but it is not consistant. It may be in part due to the Mg being in different concentrations throughout the tube. So it burns alot of it, then maybe reaches a portion that does not have as much Mg, and gets dark, then again hits more Mg. The turnings have a habit of wanting to not mix well with others!

 

 

Thanks, Robert

[psyco_1322]

I know that NaNO3/Mg flares are some of the brightest for light output. I wonder how a sodium sulfate and magnesium strobe would do for light output?

[FrankRizzo]

This is the brightest strobe I've ever seen:

 

Ammonium Perchlorate: 50

Magnesium (-100, +200 mesh, atomized, dichromated) - 30 (Magnalium will also work)

Magnesium Sulfate - 20

Potassium Dichromate - +5

 

The magnesium sulfate is just regular ol' Epsom Salts that has been dried in the oven for a few hrs. Coffee mill it to a fine powder. Press into tubes at 8000PSI or more, do not use an aqueous binder. The comp has a fairly short shelf-life if not kept in a sealed bag with a desiccant packet.

 

I experimented with this comp last week, using a very coarse magnalium (-30 +60). It was very tough to ignite with that coarse metal, but once it got going, it was EXTREMELY bright white.

Edited August 3, 2009 by FrankRizzo

[stug161]

That looks like a promising comp. What sort of starting comp did you use? Did you try burning it in the open? I am unfamiliar with the role of Mg SO4 in mixes. This is the second reference to Ammonium Perchlorate and Magnesium. I dont see any issues with incompatibilities here so thats good. I wonder what I could use to protect it from moisture. I would like to make some comets with a real bright star mix! Guess it is time to get some testing!!

 

Thanks

Robert

[FrankRizzo]

For a starting mix, I used:

 

Potassium Perchlorate - 75

Charcoal - 15

Red Gum - 10

Aluminum (bright flake, 12micron) - +6

 

Add nitrocellulose lacquer to make a paste, and coat the top surface of the comp for prime.

 

Yes, I burned it in the open as well. It's a blinding flash powder if not pressed into a tube, and will go boom if you give it any confinement in the loose state (like in a Dixie cup..oops). If using fine magnesium, it should be coated with potassium dichromate to prevent a reaction with the AP. The magnesium sulfate is the high temperature oxidizer, it's what makes the comp strobe.

[sidneybrazil]

then test the strobe light and a green and use very strong here in brazil

2,400 pounds of barium nitrate

 

360 grams of potassium chlorate in

 

100 grams of pvc

 

500 grams of magnalio

 

 

it's a beautiful green strobe

[a_bab]

Translated, your formula must be:

 

24 barium nitrate

36 potassium chlorate

10 PVC

50 MgAl 100 mesh

 

Just a remixed Bleser green strobe formula, with a low content of barium nitrate/high content of MgAl. Interesting nevertheless.

 

If you didn't see sodium nitrate/magnesium burning, you didn't see light. It works even with coarse magnesium (turnings) and crystals of NaNO3. The light is insane, and deep yellow (the usual sodium spectral colour)

[sidneybrazil]

I am not talking about weight is not in% not 24% of nitrate

[psyco_1322]

sidneybrazil,

 

Your formula is kind of messed up. You have over a ton of barium nitrate to less than a pound of other chemicals. Check your formula again.

[sidneybrazil]

the right is 2400 grams and not even 240 grams. here is that if I feel like I kg 2400 pounds and not tonnes. more then you are correct 2400 grams.

[sidneybrazil]

following video of my green strobe the filming is not very good most of you have an idea of how it is. This is a tube of paper 6cm in length.