Ammon Red Star Brilliant

[Potassiumchlorate]

Composition type: Red ammonium perchlorate star composition with magnesium.

 

Creator: Dr. Takeo Shimizu

 

Colour/effect: extremely deep and bright red with very little smoke.

 

Composition by weight:

 

Ammonium perchlorate 41

Magnesium<60 mesh 33.3

Red gum 9.5

Strontium carbonate 9.5

Potassium dichromate 1.9

SGRS 4.8

 

Total: 100

 

Any precautions/incompabilities: the magnesium must be treated with potassium dichromate in solution to protect it from the ammonium perchlorate. Incompatible with chlorates and potassium nitrate.

 

Procedure/preparation: Protection against the potassium dichromate is necessary (gloves, breathing protection, etc). The stars should be bound with water, preferrably rolled.

 

Note: This video is a bit fake, since I just dry mixed the composition, leaving the potassium dichromate and SGRS out, but the main chemicals for the effect are there. It gives you an idea of how bright this composition is. It's 0.3 grams only.

Edited February 26, 2012 by Potassiumchlorate

[Potassiumchlorate]

Feel free to comment or tell if you have actually made stars of this one yourselves. I have heard that the potassium dichromate might make the magnesium burn a bit slower, but on the other hand it should act as a catalyst by decomposing the ammonium perchlorate. From tests I have done I know that it certainly catalysts potassium perchlorate when first intimately milled with it. Dr. Shimizu states that 1000 grams of magnesium should be treated with 50 grams of potassium dichromate. Since we have 410 grams of magnesium for one kilo of composition here and 19 grams of potassium dichromate, it seems obvious that the potassium dichromate shouldn't be mixed into the composition in a powdered state but used to coat the magnesium in solution first before mixing the composition as a whole.

 

I don't think that I will use this one myself, if Bleser's Red Mg turns out to be as good as I believe it is (just tested a few small stars with it this far), but it sure is one of the best reds there ever were.

[AdmiralDonSnider]

Looks very nice, although ground tests can be deceiving. Have you used the Mg mesh size specified? I was told it´s critical to conform to Shimizus specs to have the comp perform as desired.

 

If I recall correctly these comps do show a high rate of burn, suggesting themselves for use in peony shells.

 

Thank you for the testing. Love to see reviews like this.

[Potassiumchlorate]

I think that ground tests for blue are pretty deceiving, while ground tests for red are much more accurate.

 

The original says 60 mesh, though I think it just means that it it should pass through a 60 mesh screen, and not that the average particle size should be 60 mesh. I used 270 mesh.

Edited March 5, 2012 by Potassiumchlorate

[Mumbles]

Feel free to comment or tell if you have actually made stars of this one yourselves. I have heard that the potassium dichromate might make the magnesium burn a bit slower, but on the other hand it should act as a catalyst by decomposing the ammonium perchlorate. From tests I have done I know that it certainly catalysts potassium perchlorate when first intimately milled with it. Dr. Shimizu states that 1000 grams of magnesium should be treated with 50 grams of potassium dichromate. Since we have 410 grams of magnesium for one kilo of composition here and 19 grams of potassium dichromate, it seems obvious that the potassium dichromate shouldn't be mixed into the composition in a powdered state but used to coat the magnesium in solution first before mixing the composition as a whole.

 

I don't think that I will use this one myself, if Bleser's Red Mg turns out to be as good as I believe it is (just tested a few small stars with it this far), but it sure is one of the best reds there ever were.

 

 

I think that ground tests for blue are pretty deceiving, while ground tests for red are much more accurate.

 

The original says 60 mesh, though I think it just means that it it should pass through a 60 mesh screen, and not that the average particle size should be 60 mesh. I used 270 mesh.

 

 

You really may want to look into getting a copy of the actual book instead of relying on transcribed information on the internet. The formula as written is correct. IE use pre-treated magnesium in addition to dry dichromate in the composition. I really don't know how you arrived at having 410g of Mg per kilo of composition. There is 33.3% in the formula as given. Even if you start leaving out the SGRS and dichromate, you still don't arrive at 41%. It gets bumped to 35.7%. The book is not perfectly clear as to the actual size distribution of the metal, but the powder you're using is certain much smaller than was originally intended. There is a -50 or -60+100 mesh powder that seems to have been around forever which may be similar to what shimizu had. The entire book uses mostly just the 60 mesh variety, as this is the size best suited toward strobes. In a commercial setting, you really can only afford to have one or maybe two mesh sizes around.

[Potassiumchlorate]

You really may want to look into getting a copy of the actual book instead of relying on transcribed information on the internet. The formula as written is correct. IE use pre-treated magnesium in addition to dry dichromate in the composition. I really don't know how you arrived at having 410g of Mg per kilo of composition. There is 33.3% in the formula as given. Even if you start leaving out the SGRS and dichromate, you still don't arrive at 41%. It gets bumped to 35.7%. The book is not perfectly clear as to the actual size distribution of the metal, but the powder you're using is certain much smaller than was originally intended. There is a -50 or -60+100 mesh powder that seems to have been around forever which may be similar to what shimizu had. The entire book uses mostly just the 60 mesh variety, as this is the size best suited toward strobes. In a commercial setting, you really can only afford to have one or maybe two mesh sizes around.

 

Oh, I was tired. It's 410 grams of ammonium perchlorate, of course. I mean 330 grams of Mg. I'm a bit absent-minded sometimes.

 

It's a photocopy of the actual book in PDF.

Edited March 6, 2012 by Potassiumchlorate

[Mumbles]

You have somewhere between 39 and 69 years before that is a legal copy.

[Potassiumchlorate]

Sure, but it's an accurate document.