7 replies to this topic

[Arthur Brown]

Given Weingart's liking for Chlorate in formulae, and my dislike for Chlorate anywhere! Can I replace it with Perchlorate?

Weight for weight? 4:3 as oxygen atoms? or.....

[digger]

Given Weingart's liking for Chlorate in formulae, and my dislike for Chlorate anywhere! Can I replace it with Perchlorate?

Weight for weight? 4:3 as oxygen atoms? or.....

Don't forget about the chlorine donor if you are doing colours, a chlorate formula will very often not require one whereas a perc one will.

[portfire]

Don't forget about the chlorine donor if you are doing colours, a chlorate formula will very often not require one whereas a perc one will.

That explains the crappy colour when I subed Lancasters KClO3 yellow with KClO4 You may find (like I did) that the stars are much more difficult to ignite. At the time I only had cryolite (still do) and all the other KClO4 comps used sodium oxalate, but thanks to one of Karls posts, found a good yellow with the moded Veline red

[bill]

Lancaster says in "Fireworks Principles and Practice:3rd edition" that Potassium Perchlorate can be subbed for Chlorate but you have to add "considerable" amounts of charcoal and the flames will look smaller. At least in his red, green, yellow and blue pumped roman candle star formula.

[Mumbles]

Odd that the yellow came out poorer. Chlorine isn't involved in the generation of yellow, just atomic sodium. It actually should have gotten better since perc burns hotter than chlorate. I suppose it depends on what kind of yellow you desire.

The heat is why colors tend to be poorer with perchlorate vs chlorate. Neither actually give up much if any free chlorine to the flame on their own. A chlorine donor will make either formula better. Addition of sulfur helps too.

I like charcoal in all my star formulas, only a couple percent. It helps them burn smoother, and might help eat up some extra oxygen to prevent the less desirable emitters. Hexamine will improve the flame envelope.

[jayden]

Is it possible to replace perchlorate with chlorate?

[BrightStar]

Is it possible to replace perchlorate with chlorate?

Sometimes, but only if you are an expert with chlorates. Otherwise, it could unfortunately be very dangerous.

There are plenty of good formulae designed specifically for chlorates. These also need plenty of experience to work with safely.

Edited by BrightStar, 18 July 2009 - 03:55 PM.

[Potassium chlorate]

For yellow Bengals I use:

70% potassium chlorate

15% cryolite

15% shellac

As long as you don't mix chlorates with sulfur/compounds/ or ammonium salts, chlorates aren't much more dangerous than perchlorates.