Smoke of a Different Color, AFN III

[AzoMittle]

In the Best of AFN III there is an article title Smoke of a Different Color by ImM. It includes formulas for peach, lemon, orange-grey, and a few other exotic colored smokes. They are potassium iodate and potassium iodine based with (for the most part) potassium chlorate.

 

Other chemicals include: Calcium salicide, Calcium stearate, Cuprous oxide, Sulfur, Magnesium, Antimony powder, Cadmium stearate, Cadmium ricinoleate, Copper stearate, Barium stearate, Ammonium iodide, and Ammonium carbonate.

 

If it is okay with Mumbles, or another admin, I can edit the specific formulas in; I want to avoid a repeat of the Fulcanelli incident.

 

Note: I am NOT making any of these, but I would like to know the details of doing so.

 

Three questions:

 

1) I have never seen iodate or iodine compounds used in pyro before. Are there are any safety issues?

 

2) ImM says in one section that substitutions can be made for, "other halogen (fluorine or bromine) compounds for the iodine compounds. These are beyond the scope of this discussion." What considerations should be taken for using other halogens?

 

3) What are the chlorate/dye based formulas using? Skylighter seems to have pulled their colored smoke mixes but they used 27% potassium chlorate with the remainder being "smoke mix", what is actually in that?

 

Thank you,

 

AzoMittle

[alexpyro101]

what was the the Fulcanelli incident?

[AzoMittle]

I posted a link to Fulcanelli's article on canister shell construction that was under copyright, I didn't realize it was illegal at the time but it caused some backlash from a few members,

[Mumbles]

Mistakes are made, don't worry about the Fulcanelli stuff. As an aside, I think the initials at the end of the article have a typo. I suspect they should have been IvM, which is Ian von Malitz.

 

I've actually been interested in these "inorganic" smokes for a while. The ones you mention work by producing elemental iodine, or transition metal iodides. There are also some that function by vaporizing/aerosolizing transition metal oxides. There is more information about this in Herbert Ellern's book "Military and Civilian Pyrotechnics". Hexachloroethane/Zn smokes fall into this general category of inorganic smokes.

 

I don't know how the other halogens would work. Fluorides almost certainly wont be making fluorine, but there are colored fluoride salts that might work. There is a chance you could produce elemental bromine. This would probably make brown to red-brown smokes on it's own, and perhaps some colored salt smokes. As far as safety goes, I'd watch out for the smoke. Iodine is a halogen, and is rather irritating to the lungs and eyes. It will also readily stain things around it. Bromine will be the same, but more irritating in my experience. As far as the ones that produce metal oxides or halides, typically the salts tend to be rather toxic, or at least not very good to be inhaling. They published ones generally based on iron, lead, chromium, cadmium, copper, and bismuth.

 

The chlorate/dye smokes use organic dyes, as opposed to the inorganic ones I was talking about. There are several that will work, but most current ones are based upon anthroquinone. Besides black and white, organic smokes typically produce the densest most brightly colored smokes. They tend to be more delicate, since you have to avoid burning the dyes. They also however will be less toxic.