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Brilliant Color rubber stars w/o Perch

Ubehage

By Ubehage
in Pyrotechnics Compositions

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Ubehage Newbie

Ubehage

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These are some formulas by Ned Gorski, that I found on Skylighter. I have previously tried some of Ned's rubber stars, and they all performed exactly as he said they would.

Therefor, I will jump to conclusions and trust that these stars perform as expected as well :)

 

Composition name: Brilliant Colored Rubber Stars.

Composition type: Star formula.

Creator of composition: Ned Gorski.

 

All these compositions must be wetted with Acetone, to dissolve the parlon and make it a nice chlorine-donor.

In my experience, these rubber-compositions works best when you cut them.

 

The Magnalium has no specified mesh. My guess is, that a finer mesh will give a better result.

 

 

Brilliant Red:

53% Strontium Nitrate,

19% Magnalium,

17% Parlon,

11% Red Gum.

 

Brilliant Green:

53% Barium Nitate,

19% Magnalium,

17% Parlon,

11% Red Gum.

Brilliant Yellow:
13% Strontium Nitrate,
40% Barium Nitrate,

19% Magnalium,

17% Parlon,

11% Red Gum.

Brilliant Peach/Lavender:

53% Potassium Nitrate (KNO3),

19% Magnalium,

17% Parlon,

11% Red Gum.

Edited by Ubehage
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OldMarine Newbie

OldMarine

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I use those comps regularly and all perform great with monocapa or BP+5% Si prime.
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Lysdexic Newbie

Lysdexic

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About the Mg/Al particle size Ned [edit-not Ed] says:

"Note: Changing the mesh of the magnalium changes the star's burn speed. Mesh sizes from 60-mesh to 325-mesh may be experimented with. I suggest you start with about 200-mesh and work from there."

http://www.skylighter.com/fireworks/how-to-make/colored-screen-sliced-rubber-stars.asp

 

I only comment because I decided this was a good way to start experimenting with colored stars. Ned also wrote an article on colored gerbs using a similar system to produce any color you'd like so I ordered chemicals to experiment with both as well as bp based stars, drivers, etc. I'm looking forward to the thaw or at least it being warm enough to be outside :)

 

[Edit] I'm sorry your post was from the "Red Rubber Stars article and not the Rainbow Rubber Stars. My bad.

Edited by Lysdexic
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Mumbles Explorer

Mumbles

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Mixing red and green produced what are known as optical colors. They trick your eyes into seeing a blend of the two colors. As far as they go I like 62:38 green:red for yellow. More green(70-75) is a brighter lemon yellow, while a bit more red like what I mentioned gives a warmer canary or slightly golden yellow For orange I favor 45:55 green:red personally. You can play between about 50:50 and 40:60 to get the hue you like. I don't really like going much more red heavy than that. It starts to get kind of red-orange which reminds me of bad red stars or calcium based oranges.

 

I do use a different base formula, buell red and the equivalent green with BaCO3. Different formulas might need a little different ratios. They're infinitely tunable to whatever you like though.

 

As a side note, adding a little strontium to BaSO4 based "white" strobes turns them true white instead of tinged green.

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Mumbles Explorer

Mumbles

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Of course. It's really nothing special though. Here is a pretty standard whiteish strobe rocket fuel.

 

Ammonium Perchlorate - 60

Magnalium (-200 mesh) - 25

Barium Sulfate - 15

Potassium Dichromate - +5

 

This is normally bound with NC lacquer, but this or similar formulas have been bound with mineral oil and vaseline successfully as well.

 

All you really do is replace 1-3 parts of the barium sulfate with strontium sulfate.

 

Ammonium Perchlorate - 60

Magnalium (-200 mesh) - 25

Barium Sulfate - 12 to 14

Strontium Sulfate - 1 to 3

Potassium Dichromate - +5

 

I'm not sure I've ever seen it done with AP strobes, but I suspect you might be able to use similar color mixing tricks discussed above to make yellow or orange strobes as well if you included some chlorine donor to emphasize the color producing species.

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Ubehage Newbie

Ubehage

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Mixing red and green produced what are known as optical colors. They trick your eyes into seeing a blend of the two colors.

I confirm this.

I took a handful of red and green stars, in 2 seperate piles next to each other, and ignited them. And the result was bright yellow.

It is indeed an optical effect, and not necessarily depending on how well it's mixed.

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lloyd Newbie

lloyd

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Ube,

I've always "wet pressed" those, using an excess of solvent to make them into soft dough, then pressing them into molds (or tubes) at not much more than 'hand pressure'.

 

They always worked well that way.

 

('take a while to dry, though)

 

Lloyd

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  • 3 months later...
redbullzuiper Apprentice

redbullzuiper

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53% Potassium Nitrate (KNO3),


19% Magnalium,


17% Parlon,


11% Red Gum.



High in the sky it looks a bit `purple (lavender)` which is cool because its nitrate based.


Is there anyway to improve this lavender color so it becomes a bit more purple without adding KClO3 or KClO4?


Edited by redbullzuiper
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OldMarine Newbie

OldMarine

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Maybe try a bit of copper oxide or oxychloride?

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NeighborJ Newbie

NeighborJ

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I've never had any luck getting a purple from a KNO3 oxidized star. You will have better luck adding a copper compound to the strontium nitrate star.
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redbullzuiper Apprentice

redbullzuiper

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Ive got only some Copper (II) Oxide atm. Im going to try that this evening. How much Copper should I add to the Red rubber star.
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NeighborJ Newbie

NeighborJ

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Copper oxide works well as a blue light emitter. +8% will certainly shift the color to a purple but it may need tweaked to your liking, it may require +12%. Experimentation is half the fun of this hobby.

 

Jason

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redbullzuiper Apprentice

redbullzuiper

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Yes, thats what I like about the hobby. I tried the same with a blue color. But its just not possible to create a nice blue color with only nitrates as the oxidizer.

 

But I never though about adding CuO to this red rubver star. Thanks for that tip. Im going to try it this evening and will post my progress and video if it worked.

 

P.S. I just love purple stars, they look amazing in the sky ;) So i really looking forward to experiment.

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XMax Newbie

XMax

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Ive got only some Copper (II) Oxide atm. Im going to try that this evening. How much Copper should I add to the Red rubber star.

I would try someting like:

43% SrNO3,

10% CuO,

19% Magnalium,

17% Parlon,

11% Red Gum.

Made some tests of this a while ago. Will se if I find my notes.

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redbullzuiper Apprentice

redbullzuiper

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Posted (edited)
As promised, here by my progress.


I tried a few different batches. Also the one @XMax suggested. However, that didn't burn purple, but more a lavender color. The same color as the Brilliant Peach/Lavender.


When lowering the Sr(NO3)2 in percent and adding the CuO, the percentage I took off from the Sr(NO3)2, I didnt get purple either. But more a Pink/Lavender color.


I decided to leave the Red as is, and just add 12% CuO. The result was amazing. A bright purple color was observated. I really, really like it.


Huge shoutout to @NeighborJ and @OldMarine. I wonder why Ive never came across this composition somewhere on the internet. I Literally have looked inside every database available :o

Never seen a purple color using only a Nitrate as primary oxidizer. So im really curious if blue is possible aswell. Tested alot on blue, never succeeded.


Here is the video I took in slow motion (Amazing!)



Edited by redbullzuiper
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NeighborJ Newbie

NeighborJ

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Redbull, im happy that worked so well. It looks comparable to the fusia in the jopetes pdf. Was it difficult to light? I'm curious how well it will stay lit after a good break. Testing is not over but it looks like a winner.

 

I do know that it is possible to make a nitrate blue but all my attempts have availed me squat. I do know that this nitrate green listed above can be tweaked quite far into the blue side of the color spectrum but not all the way.

 

Jason

Edited by NeighborJ
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starxplor Newbie

starxplor

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Your final formula was something like this then?

53% Strontium Nitrate,

19% Magnalium,

17% Parlon,

11% Red Gum.

+12% CuO

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redbullzuiper Apprentice

redbullzuiper

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@NeighborJ

It was just a lose pile of composition. 2 grams lighted with 2mm visco fuse. I made a few stars from it. Binded with Parlon/Aceton. I will see how they perform this evening, if the weather lets me. I guess it needs a bp + silicon prime to light it. But im trying it with bp + Ai.

 

@starxplor

Yes, thats the formula I made. Just the original Red with 12% CuO added.

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XMax Newbie

XMax

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As promised, here by my progress.
I tried a few different batches. Also the one @XMax suggested. However, that didn't burn purple, but more a lavender color. The same color as the Brilliant Peach/Lavender.
When lowering the Sr(NO3)2 in percent and adding the CuO, the percentage I took off from the Sr(NO3)2, I didnt get purple either. But more a Pink/Lavender color.
I decided to leave the Red as is, and just add 12% CuO. The result was amazing. A bright purple color was observated. I really, really like it.
Huge shoutout to @NeighborJ and @OldMarine. I wonder why Ive never came across this composition somewhere on the internet. I Literally have looked inside every database available :o
Never seen a purple color using only a Nitrate as primary oxidizer. So im really curious if blue is possible aswell. Tested alot on blue, never succeeded.
Here is the video I took in slow motion (Amazing!)

 

 

Very nice result! Have you tried them in the air? I didn't get near your result but I didn't really get the lavender you describe either. Will definitely try your formula this weekend!

Edited by XMax
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redbullzuiper Apprentice

redbullzuiper

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Very nice result! Have you tried them in the air? I didn't get near your result but I didn't really get the lavender you describe either. Will definitely try your formula this weekend!

 

Im going to try them maybe this evening inside a 2.5" shell. Depends what the weather is. But I will surely post a video when tested in the air.

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