AirsoftSmokeScreen Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 Hi there, I'm looking to make a red flare/torch and I don't have strontium nitrate, carbonate and I'm not a "fan" of ordering them online.I was wondering if with strontium powder it might work? Maybe with aluminum added.If so, please tell me where to find strontium?I mean where is it used in objects that I can find easily? I heard that the TV's have pieces of strontium but I don't know what and where.Thanks.P.S. I'm really fascinated to buy only what is crucial ( KNo3 for example) and the rest I like to make them on my own.
Mortartube Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 Strontium Carbonate can be bought from Pottery suppliers and is remarkably cheap. It will also undoubtedly be a better and more economical product than you can ever hope to make.
AirsoftSmokeScreen Posted March 13, 2013 Author Posted March 13, 2013 Thanks,And any suggestion about the ratios? And I have to use aluminum powder too or the strontium carbonate and sulfur will be enough as fuel?
californiapyro Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 I have strontium carbonate for $3/LB, as well.
AirsoftSmokeScreen Posted March 13, 2013 Author Posted March 13, 2013 I'll check in my city for this since is that cheap, hope I'll find it somewhere
LTUPyro Posted March 13, 2013 Posted March 13, 2013 It's hard to get nice, bright red color without Potassium (per)chlorate and/or parlon. Anyways if you dont have any parlon or Kclo4/Kclo3 I recommend Organic composition:KCLO4 - 35%Sr(NO3)2 - 35%S - 20%Charcoal (airfloat) - 5%Dextrin - 5%You can try Kno3 instead of Kclo4, but color wouldn't be so bright as using Kclo4
a_bab Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 Strontium metal is not what you think: the powder will selfignite in the air, and the metal chunks will react with air just like calcium carbide, meaning that in a day or less you'll be left with oxides/hydroxides, the reason for it is kept under oil or argon. It is also terribly expensive. Do your homework first before being fascinated by the idea of making your chems. As stated before, about the only OTC source for a strontium salt would be the pottery supply, where there are many other usefull things too.
schroedinger Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 Go for the the pottery stuff, should be available everywhere. Lock up YouTube for strontium + Water and you will see why you can`t use it
AirsoftSmokeScreen Posted March 14, 2013 Author Posted March 14, 2013 (edited) Thanks for the answers but I didn't found strontium carbonate, and I'm wondering about some lithium since I could get some since it gives the red colour too.Or does it have to be a lithium based salt, or the lithium itself would be enough?ThanksP.S. Of course the lithium will be coated with vaseline so it doesn't oxidize till a want to light the flare Edited March 14, 2013 by AirsoftSmokeScreen
schroedinger Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 Lithoum would work, but is much more hydroscopic and mcuh more expensive.
Algenco Posted March 14, 2013 Posted March 14, 2013 Strontium Carbonate from pottery supplies may not be the best quality I too have strontium carbonate $3lb and I know it's the purest available I also have some Barium carbonate same price/quality
AirsoftSmokeScreen Posted March 15, 2013 Author Posted March 15, 2013 F**k my city, I was in every pottery supply and when I asked for Strontium Carbonate they looked at me like I asked them for Uranium.I was thinking of extracting lithium from energizer batteries... that's what I mentioned about it.Maybe Lithium Carbonate will work ( It is used as an antidepressant)
optimus Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 Lithium Carbonate is useable, it will give a more pink/salmon colour than Strontium. I think you should abandon any idea of using Lithium metal 1
AirsoftSmokeScreen Posted April 14, 2013 Author Posted April 14, 2013 Ok, I'm going to buy strontium carbonate from ebay.The question is: can somebody tell me if I can make a red flare using kno3, aluminum powder and strontium carbonate?If yes, please give me a formula from where to start because all I could find for red flares are based on strontium nitrate.Thanks
mike_au Posted April 14, 2013 Posted April 14, 2013 Colours in general don't tend to work well with KNO3, you can affect the tint slightly, but they tend to be pretty washed out. You might get a pale pink at best. Passfire lists 5 lance comps which contain strontium carbonate but they all use some form of chlorate or perchlorate as the main oxidizer. Be careful with pottery grade carbonate, it can contain relatively large amounts of sulfate which isn't safe around chlorate. Personally, I would try to get some nitric acid and (very carefully, after lots of reading about how to safely work with acids) convert the carbonate into nitrate. It's not overly difficult.
taiwanluthiers Posted April 29, 2013 Posted April 29, 2013 It's hard to get nice, bright red color without Potassium (per)chlorate and/or parlon. Anyways if you dont have any parlon or Kclo4/Kclo3 I recommend Organic composition:KCLO4 - 35%Sr(NO3)2 - 35%S - 20%Charcoal (airfloat) - 5%Dextrin - 5%You can try Kno3 instead of Kclo4, but color wouldn't be so bright as using Kclo4 If S means sulfur do NOT use KClO3 as an oxidizer! You can get good color with potassium chlorate but the formula needs to be modified, you can't just use 1:1 substitution because potassium chlorate has a different oxygen content than perchlorate. There's Lancaster #1 that works well but burns so fast that I'm not sure if it's useful in anything but roman candles. Buell red works very well if you have metal fuel and strontium carbonate. One bonus is that the carbonate seems to act as an oxidizer (mix MgAl with Strontium carbonate, it burns with a decent red flash) so it doesn't need as much perc as other perc compositions, meaning it's advantageous for those who have difficulty finding cheap perc.
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