redbullzuiper Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 (edited) I am trying to create a good red strobe star using strontium nitrate. My current working formula is:Sr(NO3)2 60Magnalium 20 (70 mesh)Sulfur 25PVB 20Parlon 5Sgrs 4 However, there are a few issues. They are hard to ignite and they shimmer more than strobe.Any ideas how to improve this? Adding more parlon will turn it into a non strobing red star.Decreasing the PVB will turn the strobing color to pink. I dont have smaller mesh sized magnalium, I only have 70 mesh, 100 mesh, 250 mesh and 325 mesh. Edited November 23, 2021 by redbullzuiper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajaysrifireworks Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 We can use red gum 3% 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon796 Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 (edited) That excessive amount of PVB in your formula. Is more than likely a definite issue. PVB is mostly used as a binder, and secondary fuel. Resin based fuels usually don't work well with strobes. Nitrate red strobe star. I don't have any personal experience with this one. But, it seems like some people have success with it, and some don't. So I wouldn't be surprised if some tuning is needed. The parlon is activated to also use it as a binder. .54 SN.18 Sulfur .12 Mg/Al 60 mesh.10 parlon.06 antimony-Chinese needle Edited November 23, 2021 by Carbon796 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajaysrifireworks Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 That excessive amount of PVB in your formula. Is more than likely a definite issue. PVB is mostly used as a binder, and secondary fuel. Resin based fuels usually don't work well with strobes. Nitrate red strobe star. I don't have any personal experience with this one. But, it seems like some people have success with it, and some don't. So I wouldn't be surprised if some tuning is needed. The parlon is activated to also use it as a binder. .54 SN.18 Sulfur .12 Mg/Al 60 mesh.10 parlon.06 antimony-Chinese needleShall we pvc for parlon if so how many PercentageThat excessive amount of PVB in your formula. Is more than likely a definite issue. PVB is mostly used as a binder, and secondary fuel. Resin based fuels usually don't work well with strobes. Nitrate red strobe star. I don't have any personal experience with this one. But, it seems like some people have success with it, and some don't. So I wouldn't be surprised if some tuning is needed. The parlon is activated to also use it as a binder. .54 SN.18 Sulfur .12 Mg/Al 60 mesh.10 parlon.06 antimony-Chinese needleShall we pvc for parlon if so how many Percentage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbullzuiper Posted November 23, 2021 Author Share Posted November 23, 2021 That excessive amount of PVB in your formula. Is more than likely a definite issue. PVB is mostly used as a binder, and secondary fuel. Resin based fuels usually don't work well with strobes. Nitrate red strobe star. I don't have any personal experience with this one. But, it seems like some people have success with it, and some don't. So I wouldn't be surprised if some tuning is needed. The parlon is activated to also use it as a binder. .54 SN.18 Sulfur .12 Mg/Al 60 mesh.10 parlon.06 antimony-Chinese needleI used the PVB this much on purpose, after reading the paper released by Richard and Ken about PVB in fireworks. It makes the strobe work and better. Adding a little in the Barium nitrate white strobe makes already a nice difference. It also has some chlorine in it, so I can reduce the parlon. Adding more parlon will just make it a red non strobing star. I tried the composition you gave, with bad results. The only working formulas for me were Ammonium perchlorate based. I will do some more testing to day, maybe tweak your formula by incorperating pvb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Swede Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 (edited) I used the PVB this much on purpose, after reading the paper released by Richard and Ken about PVB in fireworks. It makes the strobe work and better. Adding a little in the Barium nitrate white strobe makes already a nice difference. It also has some chlorine in it, so I can reduce the parlon...What has some chlorine in it?PVB contains no chlorine at all but it works nice to reduce burning speed and cool down the combustion of many compositions. Edited November 23, 2021 by Crazy Swede Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruipirotec Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 (edited) From my experiences making red strobe with nitrate, I learned that pvc is better than parlon. Maybe because of the purity level, when using parlon it burned like a normal star without blinking, I solved the problem using PVC. Sorry with my English. try this formula:RuiPirotec red strobe Strontium nitrate=52Sulfur=26PVC=8AlMg 150mesh=7AlMg 70mesh=7Antimony trisulfide=1Strontium carbonate=3Water and acetone as solventRuiPirotec Edited November 23, 2021 by ruipirotec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon796 Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 HCB, PVC, Dechlorane, and chlorowax, are generally regarded to work better than parlon in nitrate based storbes. If we've read the same paper, I only recall one nitrate stobe formula from them. A white one with 4% pvb. But to be honest, with their less than stellar personality on FW'ing. I don't follow them very closely, if at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbullzuiper Posted November 23, 2021 Author Share Posted November 23, 2021 What has some chlorine in it?PVB contains no chlorine at all but it works nice to reduce burning speed and cool down the combustion of many compositions.You are actualy right, there is zero chlorine in it, they were talking about something else (PCB I believe). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbullzuiper Posted November 23, 2021 Author Share Posted November 23, 2021 HCB, PVC, Dechlorane, and chlorowax, are generally regarded to work better than parlon in nitrate based storbes. If we've read the same paper, I only recall one nitrate stobe formula from them. A white one with 4% pvb. But to be honest, with their less than stellar personality on FW'ing. I don't follow them very closely, if at all.I don't realy follow them either, altough I actively read their forum. But regarding their work on PVB is very interesting because it can be used both as fuel and binder. According to them it also makes colors brighter, I have to test that aswell someday. Would be interesting to omit both redgum/phenolic and sgrs/dextrin. Yes, one paper (I have to look where I have it) states that, "the poorer the fuel the better the strobe". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon796 Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 Brighter isn't necessarily better. It whitens out weaker colors. For cost and performance, in general use. There's better alternatives imho. Not that it doesn't have some specialty uses, where it can be better suited for. Parlon is a very poor fuel.PVC has more fuel value than it, and burns better.Hcb has no real fuel value iirc.Dechlorane also has limited fuel value iirc, though I'm not sure about the dechlorane plus, that's currently available/in use.Chlorowax I'd have check on as to its fuel value/quality. My suspicion is that it is a better quality fuel than those above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon796 Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 Shall we pvc for parlon if so how many Percentage Shall we pvc for parlon if so how many PercentageYour best best would be to substitute it 1 to 1 and tune from there. Or or start slightly lower .07 or .08 to adjust for the additional fuel value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts