bigtonyicu

***NO ONE TRY THIS PLEASE!!! Just thinking and wanting feedback; this could be very dangerous to test***

Hi Everyone,

I've been doing some digging with not much luck and am wondering is anyone has, or know where I can find, information on the following.

Some star compositions require the use of acid to control reaction between the chemical (Boric acid [I've even seen citric acid called for in some rare cases where boron would have undesired affects]). While it has some useful safety implications, in some rare cases it has some undesired side effect in the stars performance (during the desired reaction).

I've been digging in my old chemistry books and I can't seam to find any info on the reaction of molten anhydride acids with and anhydride bases (bicarbonate, hydroxide...) .

Most of these acids have a low melting point (150-200C).
Most of these Bases have a low melting point as well (50-400C)



This is where I’m going with this.



*** AGAIN… No one try any of this last thing you want is to get splashed by molten acids and/or bases (some strong bases are VERY powerful oxidizing agents [calcium hypochlorite] and not only will the burn you, the may catch any safety clothing on fire upon contact).


If a star could be safely made containing both of these, they should react first and destroy most if not all undesired side effect of the acid and or base.



I have access to a full lab but I’m very hesitant to set up a Bunsen burner in a fume hood with a test tube containing a mix of any of the above chemical with out any documentation, everyone else in the lab seam to be as concerned.



Does anyone have any information that I could use as a starting point?



Is there was a way of safely preventing the from reating during manufacturing and storing them,

No worries… I'm OK somehow…

KIDS THAT WHY YOU DON"T MESS WITH FLASHES and WHY YOU USE A VERY LARGE SHEET WHEN YOU MIX THEM (36x36 inches) other wise… I'd be more then likely be without a hand.


Due to the difficulties of obtaining KClO4 in Canada most of my flash use KNO3 and KClO3, I have a very small supply of Eckart 5413 and for most of my flashes I use flake 400-mesh, I try to avoid the chlorate based flashes as much as possible (but NEVER had any problems with them. Just treat it like a live, primed high exp. and FEAR it; you SHOULD be safe).

I was trying a composition of my own and it Auto Ignited any clue what happen

67% KNO3
24% Al (400- mesh)
4% Lamp Black
5% Sb2S3

(Basically a 70/30 Nitrate flash w/ Lamp black for IR absorber and Antimony trisulfide for a sensitizer)


Procedure used:

Diaper mixed Potassium nitrate and aluminum (50 folds)
Added lamp black (50 folds)
Added antimony trisulfide a few folds and BANG (Sorry… it scared the crap out of me…. I lost count of the folds on that one)

I use butcher paper plastic side up

Any clues what happened… I know there was no trace of KClO3 any where. All new measuring vessel and obviously sheet.

On the plus side… if I can fix it… WOW did that have power, I only did 5g and it had more kick then my Eckart with chlorate.

Any feed back would be appreciated.

I'm in the process of building a dedicated firework workshop, so to keep busy I've been performing a few experiment.

I hade a length of CPVC pipe laying around and stopped to think:

-PVC contains 56% chlorine

-CPVC (=Chlorinated Polyvinyl Chloride) contains up to 74%

So I had to play.

Last night

I tried to remove the filler and was very surprise to find none (at least none that aren’t soluble in MEK). I dissolved the pipe in MEK (Butanone) and thinned it to the point were is would flowed like water, then I ran it through a filter (with the aid of a vacuum flask. Yes... I'm inpatient lol) and let the solvent evaporate to the point where it was a relatively thick liquid (thank god MEK evaporates very fast).

Tonight I mixed in a batch of Green KNO3 based nitrate star to make sure I wasn't getting chloride form my usual KClO3 that would give me hints of washed out green, I mixed 3 star composition and let them dry for 4 hours. Based on the percentage of chlorine in CPVC (assuming 74%) and the damp vs dry weight I ended with a percentage of 9%, 11.5%, 14% chlorine by weight.

I lit the first star (9%) and thought I was imagining very washed out green, then I lit the second star (11.5%) to my surprise that green was un mistakable, and with the 14% no difference.

If anyone wants to play I'm sure I could produce a more precise formula and come out with my own star system, but one thing at a time. The biggest advantage was production time (drying time); these star dried in only a few hours, they were pressed from a relatively dry mix but the use of MEK played the biggest factor in that. I will admit that the star didn't burn very fast the center of the stars must of still been damp, but definitely a great start.



I know it's not very precise yet but I had to share with someone, the wife just looked at me with the usual unimpressed “woohoo it's a green star, what’s the big deal” look so I had to share with someone that would get it.



So now I’m working on a way to dry and powder the left over paste/liquid so that I can get more precise weight and perfect a formula. Might try to dry it in thin sheets and run it through my hammer mill (once I actually build it), any other thought on how I could powder it would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Everyone,

In Canada (everywhere except the west) it is very hard to find HPDE pipe to make mortars with, I've found a local supplier that has been providing me with cardboard mortars (36" long with a 3" ID, 5/8" wall; cut in half make a great mortar) for a little while now and want to protect them as much as possible. I found this link on www.pyropage.com that talks about protecting cardboard mortars.

The exact sub section is currently down but this is what it says:

Treating Cardboard Mortars


One of the problems faced by pyrotechnicians is getting a reasonable life span out of their cardboard mortars. Myke Stanbridge documented this treatment which he claims will make cardboard tubes last 25 years or more. I'll report back in 2022 on whether it worked that well for me!

Perhaps the cheapest, easiest and most effective treatment for paper mortar tubes is the following:

• <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Clean out any debris, cobwebs, etc. Use PVA adhesive to stick down any 'flapping' edges. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Rinse each tube internally with a strong solution of calcium chloride in water. Allow your tubes to stand until they are just damp. Calcium chloride is rather hygroscopic and will not dry past remaining damp. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Using a 25% w/w solution of sodium silicate in water rinse each tube internally. Pour out the excess into your bucket and let the tubes dry open end up. There is a chemical reaction that produces tough insoluble calcium silicate in the structure of the paper. This hardens and binds the surface making it resistant to damage by abrasion and alkaline residues. When dried give the tube a fresh water rinse to remove residual sodium chloride produced in the reaction and let dry open end up in a warm location.
• Coat your tubes externally with a mixture of spirits of turpentine 1 part (pine spirit NOT mineral turps) and boiled linseed oil 3 parts. Add 15% lampblack to the mixture if you want black tubes. Leave the tubes to dry for about two weeks, open end up... Omit this step if the tubes are for immediate use or will form elements of a boxed mortar block...

Note: I'm still using tubes prepared like this around 25 years ago, and they still function perfectly! The method of treatment is very quick and cheap once you've got set up... You can treat a hundred tubes in an hour or so for around 10 cents per tube. Painting costs around a dollar per tube and is not as effective... Regards, Myke.

Has anyone done anything like that before?

I'm just having a hard time finding calcium chloride, someone told me to contact a pool chemical supplier, apparently it's used for treating water for in ground pools as a water hardener.

any thought or other treatment Idea would be greatly appreciated.

There's a video recently added to Pyrobin that caught my attention,

http://www.pyrobin.c...ew effect_1.wmv

It looks simple but for some reason I doubt it is.

Does any one have any experience in making something like that of that could recommend a starting point for me to start with.

Thanks