Copper oxide/Al flash

[Steps]

I've used copper thermite using 2 micron Atomised aluminium as booster in shells using about 10grams as the booster, Gives it a mighty BOOM.

 

It works and till recently havnt been able to use flash as a booster it works a treat if its all you got!

[Richtee]

Maybe I'll just stick with perc based boosters...

 

It's an interesting curiosity though...I'm thinking like a color star shell broken with a CuO thermite...maybe it would aid in ignition (I've heard "people" say this before). As has been said, Perc flash is possibly hotter, but it doesn't have the benefit of a molten metal "spray", does it?

 

The KCl and AL2O3 produced in perc flash might be hotter, but perhaps it's the heat capacity and duration of the sparks in thermite that does the trick?

 

Of course safety is my main concern, hence the reason why I asked if CuO thermite produces fallout in shells. Don't want to start any fires...

No fallout I have experienced..but the plastic hemi chunks come down copper coated..pretty cool, that ;{)

[flying fish]

Neat, that could be an "explosive" alternative to electroplating! Just put a thermite mix of the desired metal's oxide next to the target...

[JrayJ]

Ok guys, I went out this afternoon and did some trial and error experimentation and have come up with the following formula

 

4.4 Parts CuO (purchased from here: http://alphachemicals.ecrater.com/category.php?cid=393013)

1 Part Magnesium

2 Parts Al powder (I used cheap thermite grade stuff also purchased from the link above, no need to waste all or your expensive German Dark )

3.4 Parts Sulfur

 

Now I didn't just pull these figures out of the air. I usually use a Sulfur and Al ignition mix with a 1.7 to 1 Sulfur to Al ratio, so I just mixed it in to make this mix fuse sensitive. The magnesium is necessary to make it burn fast enough for use in burst ect. If you notice this uses no oxidizer besides the CuO as I only have access to KNO3 at the moment. It burns VERY fast with a blinding flash of light. I haven't gotten around to testing it under confinement yet but I suspect it will make an acceptable report. I haven't seen any info on a formula like this yet, but I haven't really looked all that well so forgive me if I am reinventing the wheel here!

 

Tell me what you think!

 

Attached is 5 grams of the above in an aluminum foil ball

[TheSidewinder]

Your burn test was interesting. Nice bright flash to it. Tossed off some nice sparks, too.

 

I'm curious to see what a well-confined amount will do.

[Gunzway]

Your burn test was interesting. Nice bright flash to it. Tossed off some nice sparks, too.

 

I'm curious to see what a well-confined amount will do.

The results would be interesting, I do have a video of a fairly decent amount of well confined CuO/Al going off by Axt which is impressive to say at least.

[andyboy]

The results would be interesting, I do have a video of a fairly decent amount of well confined CuO/Al going off by Axt which is impressive to say at least.

 

If it's the clip I'm thinking about he set it of with a blasting-cap, not really the same application. But sure powerful.

[JrayJ]

Confined burn of the above comp is attached. I encased it in a spiked homemade paper tube with a wall thickness of ~1/5 inch. The boom was delayed but so loud that my mother has banned me from EVERYTHING for an undetermined amount of time... Maybe I shouldn't have done it so close to the house... Enjoy and turn you volume all the way up Oh and this was set off with just a fuse, no cap.

Edited August 5, 2009 by JrayJ

[Ralph]

interesting looked like it took a while to get upto temperature that looked like it was quite large and i know with cuo al thermite when it goes off it is really loud

[TheSidewinder]

Not bad at all.

 

A little slow to go boom, but that's likely because it wasn't confined all THAT well, given the jet of flame out the end at first.

 

Anyone made a good bottom-shot out of this comp yet?

 

 

Your Mom banned you from making any more such noise? That sux. Once you're off probation, don't do it so near the house.

[psyco_1322]

That sux.

 

Did you just say sux? ... Wow

 

Anyways, I made up about 300g of CuO/Al once. Loaded it into a pop bottle, then place the bottle inside a heavy 3" tube. Stuck the thing in an old badger hole, didn't really go boom that loud. It made some noise, but no where near what normal flash would make.

Edited August 5, 2009 by psyco_1322

[JrayJ]

Not bad at all.

 

A little slow to go boom, but that's likely because it wasn't confined all THAT well, given the jet of flame out the end at first.

 

Anyone made a good bottom-shot out of this comp yet?

 

 

Your Mom banned you from making any more such noise? That sux. Once you're off probation, don't do it so near the house.

 

No problem, I live on 200 acres so a nice walk should put me well out of earshot

[Mumbles]

I think you'd be suprised at how far sound travels. Perhaps you should be working on prettier pyro instead of just boomers.

[TheSidewinder]

Did you just say sux? ... Wow

 

Yes. At my age, I occasionally slip up.

[JrayJ]

I think you'd be suprised at how far sound travels. Perhaps you should be working on prettier pyro instead of just boomers.

 

I am doing other "pretty things" like star mines, cremoras and am currently trying to work the kinks out of my 1 1/2" shells. I made 3 D-1 glitters, spiked them and everything only to find that 1 gram of mg/ kno3 break is WAY too much and my time fuse is to slow so they are large salutes that blow up on the ground (my fault for rushing and not testing the parts of the shell before hand) ... I am actually trying to get away from "boomers" as every boom only makes my mom more suspicious... And yeah, I have already learned how far sound travels, I set off a 30 gram chrage of *something* about 400 yards from the house on the other side of my dad's 18 wheeler which he had running and my mom still heard it (she was inside watching tv). Now I try to be quiet. Back to topic, do you guys think that this mix will work as a break, or should I use less Mg/ KNO3 flash? Or if I spike the shells (all paper canisters) would it be all right to just use some fine lift powder for the break?

Edited August 6, 2009 by JrayJ

[psyco_1322]

I am doing other "pretty things" like star mines, cremoras and am currently trying to work the kinks out of my 1 1/2" shells. I made 3 D-1 glitters, spiked them and everything only to find that 1 gram of mg/ kno3 break is WAY too much and my time fuse is to slow so they are large salutes that blow up on the ground (my fault for rushing and not testing the parts of the shell before hand) ... I am actually trying to get away from "boomers" as every boom only makes my mom more suspicious... And yeah, I have already learned how far sound travels, I set off a 30 gram chrage of *something* about 400 yards from the house on the other side of my dad's 18 wheeler which he had running and my mom still heard it (she was inside watching tv). Now I try to be quiet. Back to topic, do you guys think that this mix will work as a break, or should I use less Mg/ KNO3 flash? Or if I spike the shells (all paper canisters) would it be all right to just use some fine lift powder for the break?

 

I would stray away from Mg/KNO3 mixes. They are quite prone to spontaneous ignition. Fine Mg doesn't like getting wet, and the presence of nitrate doesn't help. If you had some whistle fuel, that would be a great substitute. You could make some slow nitrate based Al flash and use that (KNO3:2, Sulfur:1, Al:1). Otherwise, some fine granular bp might do you good as is.

[JrayJ]

I would stray away from Mg/KNO3 mixes. They are quite prone to spontaneous ignition. Fine Mg doesn't like getting wet, and the presence of nitrate doesn't help. If you had some whistle fuel, that would be a great substitute. You could make some slow nitrate based Al flash and use that (KNO3:2, Sulfur:1, Al:1). Otherwise, some fine granular bp might do you good as is.

Thanks, I just made a 1 1/2 inch D-1 glitter shell with fine bp as the burst... I'll shoot it off when my mom cools down, and I will stay away from mg /kno3 mixes.... I'm also going to try making a few aerial salutes with the above mix and I'll let you know how it goes.

[Mumbles]

Aerial salutes arn't going to make her any happier I would imagine.

 

I break all of my insert shells with BP as you describe. I use a 4FA equivalent, granulated through a 12 mesh screen, though I don't remove the fines. I've taken to adding a bit of whistle to boost the break, but they broke good even without it.

[Steps]

I bought a rocket down to my school leavers event last year. I put a header containing ~20g of CuO Thermite. The rocket unfortunately remained stationairy, I forgot about the header till it went off, Loudest report id ever heard. The Aluminium used was 2 micron Spherical, maybe that had something to do with why it was so loud. It wasn't very well confined either.

[Seymour]

Since it looks like your hobby is in danger, I'd take Mumbles' advise and leave the salutes - ground or sky based- alone for a while, and stick to BP for bursting your shells. Once you have lifting and timing sorted, and oh so pretty stars, you will have a mother who will be much more supportive, and you will be more free to do those aerial salutes without them being the last you ever make. But perhaps you will be hooked on visual effects.

 

30g at 400 yards. I'd be surprised if a noise maker made with anything, hell, willow stars was not audible at that distance. Perhaps you need to go a few kilometres away, or as I'm sure you'd say, miles.

 

Back to the topic of copper thermite... Using indian dark flake Al with nice fine copper oxide, the stuff behaves to the naked eye, and the banana it is in, in a substantially similar way to a similar mixture where the CuO is KClO4.

 

Going back quite a few posts, Ralph, at the temperatures that CuO/Al burn, I'd say ALL the products will be as gasses.

[Ralph]

Since it looks like your hobby is in danger, I'd take Mumbles' advise and leave the salutes - ground or sky based- alone for a while, and stick to BP for bursting your shells. Once you have lifting and timing sorted, and oh so pretty stars, you will have a mother who will be much more supportive, and you will be more free to do those aerial salutes without them being the last you ever make. But perhaps you will be hooked on visual effects.

 

30g at 400 yards. I'd be surprised if a noise maker made with anything, hell, willow stars was not audible at that distance. Perhaps you need to go a few kilometres away, or as I'm sure you'd say, miles.

 

Back to the topic of copper thermite... Using indian dark flake Al with nice fine copper oxide, the stuff behaves to the naked eye, and the banana it is in, in a substantially similar way to a similar mixture where the CuO is KClO4.

 

Going back quite a few posts, Ralph, at the temperatures that CuO/Al burn, I'd say ALL the products will be as gasses.

 

yeah i was just giving the boiling points to say they would be the minimum temperature the mix it at

[JrayJ]

Since it looks like your hobby is in danger, I'd take Mumbles' advise and leave the salutes - ground or sky based- alone for a while, and stick to BP for bursting your shells. Once you have lifting and timing sorted, and oh so pretty stars, you will have a mother who will be much more supportive, and you will be more free to do those aerial salutes without them being the last you ever make. But perhaps you will be hooked on visual effects.

 

30g at 400 yards. I'd be surprised if a noise maker made with anything, hell, willow stars was not audible at that distance. Perhaps you need to go a few kilometres away, or as I'm sure you'd say, miles.

 

Back to the topic of copper thermite... Using indian dark flake Al with nice fine copper oxide, the stuff behaves to the naked eye, and the banana it is in, in a substantially similar way to a similar mixture where the CuO is KClO4.

 

Going back quite a few posts, Ralph, at the temperatures that CuO/Al burn, I'd say ALL the products will be as gasses.

 

That I will do, I already have at least 100 grams each of every type of star you can make with KNO3. It's just getting them up there that seems to be the problem... My visco "works" as a time fuse but in order to get the correct delay I need 1 cm of it while my end plugs on my can shells are at least 2 cm ... So now I'm trying to make them less thick, punch them and insert the time fuse and I've ran into every problem you can think of... I mean, star mines are cool, for testing, but now I'm on probation until I finish all of my summer projects... Yay and anybody read The Chosen by Chaim Potok? Wow that's really off topic. Anyway I might try BARELY confining this stuff by using it as a propellant for star mines, or maybe I'll just stick with BP...

 

OK guys I need some help, that CuO test was the straw that broke the camels back and now my mom wants to shut down EVERYTHING FOREVER. Anyone got any good arguing points.... Her opinion is "We buy fireworks, not make them," and she just wants me to stop. I asked her why and her response was "because I said so".... I tried making an I'm not a danger to myself fountain but she now banned anything that "you have to light or takes a fuse". I know this is off topic but does anybody have any advice or am I doomed to stop pyro.... Thanks In Advance!

Edited August 7, 2009 by JrayJ

[Weasel]

Do not argue with her. Don't talk about anything pyro related for awhile. Get on her good side, and after awhile when shes forgotten about her anger then you can ask if you can make something small. This will probably take a few weeks to a month to accomplish.

 

You really shouldn't start with boomers at all. I've been in the hobby for about one year now, and i have never touched flash. My first devices were actually aerial shells, but they were small 1 inch shells, each break sounded no louder than a firecracker. At least you have lots of land....I have a 1/4-1/2 an acre backyard. And most of that is taken up by trees.....damn trees.....I also live in pyro-unfriendly illinois.....

 

Anyway, best of luck to you.

[bigj43454]

Pyro prude Illinois isn't that the state that banned everything down to the ground snappers due to the little girl with the roman candle?

[psyco_1322]

Maybe he will answer you, 3.5 years later...