blue star comp

[MadMat]

In my quest to get a better blue star, I've decided to add ammonium perchlorate, hexamine, and copper oxide to my inventory of chemicals (I have been using copper carbonate/ potassium perchlorate formulas). To anyone having experience creating blue stars with these type comps, I would like to know some basics, such as, ease/difficulty in getting these stars to ignite, or any other special considerations. Any info would be appreciated.

[PIL]

Use sulfur as the main fuel(potassium perc as the oxidizer ). You'll get an easy-to-ignite blue.Among all the pyrotechnic fuel, sulfur burns the coolest and produces least heat per gram,therefore the color is deep and saturated.

Hexamine is a good fuel if you don't take its hygroscopic nature into consideration.AP stars produce great color,but the incompatibility makes priming troublesome.

Here's a sulfur fueled blue for reference. Make a small batch first because my parlon(from China) may be different from yours.

KClO4 56

CuO 16

Sulfur 17

Parlon 7

Dextrin 4

[MadMat]

Thanks PIL! I can try this formula out before I go to the trouble of buying any ammonium perchlorate.

Edited January 5, 2016 by MadMat

[nater]

The Hardt #6 Blue has been my go-to Perc blue

 

Potassium Perchlorate: 62

Copper Oxychloride: 12

Sulfur: 18

Dechlorane: 4 (can substitute Saran 1:1)

Dextrin: 4

 

I have no experience with AP. I use Potassiumm Chlorate, so I made the decision to not have AP around rather than deal with this hazardous incompatibility.

[PIL]

I believe there's way too much oxidizer in hardt#6. Most organic fuels that are rich in carbon and hydrogen consumes generous amount of perc while sulfur only use 2.17gram of perchlorate per gram. Too much oxygen present in a flame will destroy CuCl, washing out the color.

Something to say about my formula.Since it's a perchlorate-sulfur formula,it's a little bit more sensitive than the resin fueled formulas .So treat it with care.

 

PIL

[schroedinger]

I really like pyroscience blue. It's in the database here.

[Sparx88]

Hardt Blue #6 is pretty alright I think. Mumbles did a conversion of it for me back towards the beginning of my pyro to work with what I had. I in turn tweaked it one step further to increase sensitivty and a larger flame envelope with out ruining the color;

 

P.Perc- 62

sulfur -18

black copper oxide -12

Parlon 4

Dextrin 4

 

then I add dark aluminum (5413) - 3

 

I like it. been using it since. It woke right up with the aluminum. Primed with hot bp and 70/30. BP 75 + perc flash 25.