Copyme Posted June 16, 2013 Posted June 16, 2013 I've been out of the game for several years and I have money now I did not have in the times previous so forgive me please, I must learn(relearn) alot in the proceeding week before my chemicals arrive to utilize the time and materials effectivley. Is the shellac at home depot the same type of shellac for pyro use? Which species of nitrocellulose is better for binding of pyrotechnics compositions? Mono, Di, or Tri or hexa? I'm assuming mono or dinitrocellulose as it would be suitable for dissolution and reconstitution as a plastic without the lowered activation energy necessary for deflagration or detonation... What copper benzoate blue/purple whistle rocket or whistle/fountain compositions are any of you familiar with that would work with home made chemicals using platinum/copper electrodes (platinum anode, copper cathode with new orleans tap water) Would the ratios for H3 be the same if I used barium chlorate instead of potassium chlorate? How much more sensative would it be? How poisonous is barium chlorate (never used it)... can it be adsorbed into the skin or is it an ingestion inhalation risk only? Would some Al foil and time spent in a blender with a bit of mineral oil be enough to make firefly aluminum of sufficient particle size for pyro use? The chemicals I'm working with this year are copper oxide/Cu powder, copper chloride (both the 1 and 2 oxide oxidations states) CuOH, SrCO3,BaClO3,KCLO4,K benzoate, Al (various calibers... I'm finishing a ballmill for finer powders with 00-odd lead buckshot media, KCLO4, KNO3, C, S, airfloat charcoal... lastly... anyone here in new orleans? I have a nice bash planned in metararie!
Seymour Posted June 16, 2013 Posted June 16, 2013 May I ask why you would want to use Barium chlorate in H3? Are you aiming for a green burst? The ratios are different, based on the percentage of oxygen n the oxidizer. This can easily be caculated by looking at the molar masses of the oxidizers and their constituents. You will need more Barium chlorate to replicate the oygen ballance since despite having two chlorate groups per barium, barium weighs more than twice that Potassium does, so it has less oxygen per gram. However since you are using Barium instead of Potassium chlorate a lot of similarities are thrown out the window. The fuel ballance might need to be different. Barium chlorate burns a lot slower for example. I am not certain that it would work well, and even if it does, I still consider it a waste. The foil mehod for flitter does go a bit like how you describe. However flitter aluminium is generally thinner than most foil. I've had good success blending the foil, then ball milling it. Barium chlorate is toxic by inhalation, ingestion, and through cuts and the skin in general, as well as through the nose and eyes. It takes a few grams to kill you and considerably less to make you feel sick. The sick at low levels is like a nasty hangover. Mostly it is cleared from your system in a few days. General dust hazard precautions should be sufficient for pyro use of this salt, as well as ideally gloves it it's in a wet form or you are getting your hands in it. Having been poisoned I can tell you that you need to handle it extensively with no gloves to get anything through the skin bad enough to feel. Sometimes the Shellac is. There are several kinds and I believe several are widely sold. All are useful, but some (is it the golden coloured one?) are superior. If you can describe it, hopefully someone with more experience here than me can tell you. As for nitro, what is more important for pyro than the nitration level is stability. Generally people use single or double base, because even with the nitroglycerine in the double base, it' stabilized and pure and lasts a long time. This is also on account of availability. Probably second in popularity is pre bought solution, often for use as a varnish. I expect this is lowly nitrated. Essentially it all works, for pyro its just a binder. I would avoid the higher nitration levels because of un-necessary work and sensitivity. I would avoid using homemade stuff unless you REALLY know what you ar doing. Unless it's stabilized most off it seems to go off in the end, sometimes explosively. By stabilized I don't just mean cleaned thoroughly. Even commercial stuff (pure) with a low nitration level I've seen repeatedly go off if stored. What copper benzoate blue/purple whistle rocket or whistle/fountain compositions are any of you familiar with that would work with home made chemicals using platinum/copper electrodes (platinum anode, copper cathode with new orleans tap water) That's a tough one. You know, Copper benzoate does not actually whistle, at least in the range of human hearing, the frequency is way too high, and, without a chlorine source it won't burn blue or purple either. Most "copper benzoate whistle" burns with no whistle and a white flame (though very well). However I believe it would be possible, though on account of me having Sodium rather than Potassium benzoate I have not tried. The potassium sal is desired of course because it is imposable to get any colour but yellow/orange with sodium in there. So, starting with a relatively standard Potassium benzoate/Potassium perchlorate whistle, it'll be a ballance between adding enough copper (and/or Strontium) and chlorine donors to colour it without adding enough to destroy the noise. It'll be a delecate ballance. Intuitively I would say that Copper benzoate and Amoniu perchlorate would perhaps be less destrructive to the whistling effect, but that's no more than a guess. I think even adding CuO and Parlon would be worth a try. However if you want just some really nice blue and purple fire and fountain mixes using Copper benzoate, I think we can help you more
Copyme Posted June 16, 2013 Author Posted June 16, 2013 However if you want just some really nice blue and purple fire and fountain mixes using Copper benzoate, I think we can help you more please, do go on
FlaMtnBkr Posted June 17, 2013 Posted June 17, 2013 Barium chlorate is actually a sluggish oxidizer, but it is one of the few chemicals in pyro that can explode just from the set back of being shot from the mortar. It can be quite reactive with other chemicals. One way to gauge how sensitive a chlorate star is, is by striking on a match book. Many green compositions have kClO3/4 added to reduce sensitivity. I wouldn't use it in H3. It probably won't burn very fast and could possibly spontaneously ignite depending on what stars its being used with. Stick with KClO3 and a hot charcoal. Shellac is used because it burns clean and doesn't impart color to a color formula. If buying the stuff in the hardware store, there is no way of knowing what impurities are present. It may work fine or it may wash out your colors. What home made chemicals are you talking about with benzoate? Perchlorate? People have tried for a blue/purple whistle but to my knowledge no one has been successful. I would use whatever nitrocellulose you can get that burns well. Single and double base smokeless powder works good and is popular. If you can get NC cotton then you want something that burns quick with no ash. When NC lacquer is called for, the fact it burns good and doesn't need oxygen is usually being taken into account. Especially with dragon eggs. I would just buy a pound of smokeless powder like green or blue dot. Copper chloride isn't really used much in pyro. Only thing I can think of is soaking pine cones in a solution made with it and water, to color a camp fire blueish. Not sure I would cook over a fire or pit that has had much of it burned in it. I would also be extremely careful ball milling aluminum. It can be pyrophoric and ignite when exposed to air. It can be very dangerous and people have been burned very badly doing so. Read, read, and read some more if you plan on doing this. Good luck.
Copyme Posted June 17, 2013 Author Posted June 17, 2013 I was going to make up a batch of copper benzoate for blue fires and try to add some chlorine and strontium to the mix for some purple Maybe make a batch of stars from them for the flower pot mixers I was planning on using the BaClO3 as a green burst mostly. I may have been planning on using it in handheld devices but THAT is now out the window with it's toxicity... I can't count on the intelligence of one or two of the people involved in the festivities >.> they might not listen about the smoke or ashes... I just bought some PVC glue without the amorphous silica from the hardware store so I can expand the available repetriore of compositions... I'm working on the powdered metals but it seems I may be out of time for high mesh Al or Mg IO might be able to get some small amounts at work depending on the work we do in the next week or so spo here's to hoping !!
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