stormyweathers Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 (edited) i recently read about chloride salts being used to change flame colors when in solution with methanol.i was curious to see if these chemicals could be used in shells as color additives too. Red: Lithium chloride (actually any soluble lithium salt)/strontium chlorideOrange: Calcium chloride/ sodium chloride [iodized]Yellow: Sodium chloride [non-iodized]/barium chlorideGreen: Boric acidViolet: Potassium iodideblue/green: Cupric Chloride i know that some carbonates [strontium and copper] are used, but will the chlorides work too? edit: on another note, i live in south FL, so i am unable to find any ice-melt [cheap source of CaCl2]. So if anybody up north has some and would be willing to sell me a pound or so, it would be greatly appreciated. Edited July 5, 2009 by stormyweathers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Most of those won't work all that well. Many are quite hygroscopic, while others rely on the alcohol itself to produce the color (boric acid). In general the price, as well as the less than desirable properties, make the chlorides relatively useless. I've seen some esoteric formulas using Cuprous chloride (CuCl), but thats the only even semi-legitimate use I've seen. Potassium salts have too weak of colors to be used with anything but almost invisible flames such as methanol. CaCl2 can be found as "Damp-rid", a dessicant type thing sold for dehumidifying small spaces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firetech Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 If you look around the compositions section or even search comps on google you'll come up with some decent colors, and they color additives are usually the same or similiar. Most comps use different salts from the following elements. Red-Strontium Green-Barium Blue-Copper Yellow-SodiumOrange-CalciumPurple-Sr/Cu combo (usually) There are various salts that produce colors when burned, but rarely are they in a usable form for pyrotechnics. Usually because of their reactivity with other chems in the formula or because they are hygroscopic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormyweathers Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 thanks for the feedback, now i just need to find a way to justify spending some cash on these chems for a relatively useless demo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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