MadMax Posted April 23, 2011 Posted April 23, 2011 Well I've finally done it. I broke down and picked up some 20 nm alpha phase Fe2O3 and shit man it wasn't cheap! It'll be arriving in the next few weeks. I can't wait to see what it is capable of. The way I understand it a catalyst only has to be present in the smallest amount to work - and the finer the catalyst and better it's integrated, the more effective it is. Well what could be more intimate then a colloidal suspension of Fe2O3 particles in water used to dissolve and then slowly vaporize off r-candy or some similar rocket formula - eg. APCP. The MSDS strongly recommends against mixing of this powder with aluminum or and powdered metal so naturally I'll have to do that first - to get it out of my system and all. I'm excited about the prospect of what this new substance will unlock. I'm guessing that instead of adding a few percent of catalyst I'll be able to get away with a few tenths of a percent due to the high dispersability of the powder. Depending on how this goes I may try out a bunch of others. Does anyone have any recommendations / suggestions or cool ideas?
NightHawkInLight Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 I'm looking forward to hearing about your tests. Even if it's expensive if you only need a fraction of a percent in a composition it really won't raise the fuel price.
MadMax Posted April 24, 2011 Author Posted April 24, 2011 I am thinking that so little will be needed that it probably won't even change the color. The only thing that I'm really worried about is the deagglomeration process. I know it will be much finer then anything you can buy on skylighter or even produce by ball milling for that matter but... will it retain all it's nano-properties? Honestly - I don't know. That's what's been bugging me. Will I be able to unlock it's full potential? When I bought it I was told that I was the first person who has bought such materials as an individual - that is not part of a large educational institution, corporation or government agency. Straight away they offered dispersions which are essentially premixed aq suspensions. I was tempted but declined knowing that some of the comps I want to make are non-aq and will use oil or alcohol as the solvent. I guess one of the best ways to achieve a dispersion is by using ultrasonic vibrations. So we'll see what happens I guess. I'm sure if I told most people just how much I paid for a couple fistfulls of rust powder they would think I'm mad.
jimbo Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 I know some can be in the hundreds of dollars per 25ml solutions or less depending on the product.
MadMax Posted April 24, 2011 Author Posted April 24, 2011 Dude it was very expensive even in solution. Even the powder I bought was very expensive.
MadMax Posted April 24, 2011 Author Posted April 24, 2011 When I first started in my pyro hobby I went to all the major sources like skylighter and pretty much bought up everything they had to offer. If I was rich or rather, had unlimited resources I would buy out every nano-powder too.
Blackthumb Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 I'll be watching the 6 o'clock news.......stay safe!
MadMax Posted April 24, 2011 Author Posted April 24, 2011 Always brother. I'll be watching the 6 o'clock news.......stay safe!
MadMax Posted May 14, 2011 Author Posted May 14, 2011 Here are the updates... I am now on the hunt for an ultrasonic agitating stirring rod. It seems that the de-agglomeration process was a bit more difficult then I anticipated. If you don't de-agglomerate it what you have is something not much finer then highly ball milled powder. The shearing forces created by the U/S is what tears the agglomerated particles apart in an aqueous solution/suspension. Once it is complete the particles should be in permanent suspension similar to a solution but with a non-soluble like Fe2O3. Any progress on this?
MadMax Posted June 22, 2011 Author Posted June 22, 2011 I broke down and got the pre-dispersed particles. Ok, so after trying to get a particle dispersion on water I found out that this isn't as easy as just vibrating the crap out of it. Damn van der waals forces! The particles want to stick together like nobody's business and for the most part the only thing that will separate them again is subjecting the water to tremendous amounts of ultrasound. When I first read it I was envisioning something like hooking up a powerful piezoelectric tweeter for a sound system and letting that vibrate the container. It turns out you need to do a lot more then that. In practice they use a very powerful ultrasonic vibrating probe that is so energetic that it actually causes cavitation in the water. Tiny microscopic pockets of water evaporate and re-condense within the peeks and troughs of the wave going through the water. Its so powerful that if you were to touch the probe the skin on your finger would probably be sucked right off the bone! I looked at commercial u/s deagglomerators and found them to be anywhere from 4000 - 17000. Not what I want to spend! According to the tech tips on us-nano.com it also said you could disperse them with a magnetic mixer but the results are inferior. For mixing them dry they can be ball milled with a milling aid which would be handy if one were using say, a bulk oxidizer as a milling aid and the nano stuff as the catalyst for that but when they say ball mill I'm sure they are talking about high energy milling, not what I had in mind. So I went back to the site and ordered the pre-made dispursion of Fe2O3. That way I'll know for sure that my nano particles are really nano. I also picked up some TiO2 to test around with too while I was there. I'll have to be careful with this one though as it's a little less shall we say, bio-friendly.
brimstoned Posted August 20, 2012 Posted August 20, 2012 Actually, TiO2 is used in a variety of cosmetics and skin care products...I wouldn't think it had any outstanding toxicity.
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