ZeRoX blue star

[ZeRoX]

Name: ZeRoX blue star

Type: colored star

 

Composition:

 

Potassium chlorate: 60%

Black copper oxide: 8%

Basic copper carbonate: 7%

PVC: 10%

Hexamine: 7%

Dextrine: 8%

 

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2387/myblue2testbf7.jpg

 

This is the deepest blue color I got, cheap relatively, easy to use and prime is not necessary.

[ULTRABUF]

Have you tried it with perchlorate instead of chlorate?

[ZeRoX]

This is the problem in my country, perchlorate salts are forbidden except of magnessium perchlorate and their price is extremely high.

[ULTRABUF]

Im sure I could find a way to modify it to use perchlorate, since its what I have. That is a very nice blue by the way.

[JamesH]

Zerox, that looks like a really nice blue formula. Copper oxychloride, potassium chlorate and lactose based blue comps are also very good in terms of colour saturation.

 

Ultabuf, perchlorate will give a more washed out blue, due to its higher flame temperature.

[ZeRoX]

Thank you for the feedback ultrabuf, I made this star with chlorate because I dont have perchlorate and I am convinced that the blue color will improve with perchlorate.

[Pretty green flame]

Thank you for the feedback ultrabuf, I made this star with chlorate because I dont have perchlorate and I am convinced that the blue color will improve with perchlorate.

Perchlorate, with the exception of ammonium perchlorate, will not give such a good blue as chlorate. The reason is, as JamesH stated, that perc based comps burn with a higher temperature and the blue colour will appear washed out. Good blues need a cool flame temperature.

[Mephistos Minion]

That is a very nice looking blue!

 

With all these stars using chlorate, and other chems I am closer to getting than perc, I think I might look into finding some KClO3. If I use a BP burst in my shells, say with chlorate stars, will the cannule be sufficent to protect from any reactions?

[Pretty green flame]

Remember, the canulle is removed after all the stars and burst are placed in the shell. It's only purpose is to center the burst. Just prime the stars with a generous layer of sulfurless BP and you should be fine.

[TheSidewinder]

Welll.... not always.

 

I make paper cannules (2-3 turns of recycled 30# paper) and glue them to the top end-disk, fill the shell "upside down", fill the cannule with burst (4Fg in my case), crimp the cannule shut and glue on the other disk. Keeps the burst charge right where I want it. It's an extra step, yes, but it works fine.

 

M

[Mephistos Minion]

Huzzah, that's what I wanted to hear. I am still waiting for a reply on my KClO3 questions

[TheSidewinder]

Ah, yes.

 

If you have the BP burst in a cannule that is closed (so NO powder can migrate into the surrounding stars), that will work fine.

 

Again, this is something *I* do.

 

You might get a conflicting answer, in the name of safety, but if the BP and stars never touch, they can't react.

 

M

[Pretty green flame]

You could always use H3 burst, it would be better suited for smaller shells anyway.

[brainfever]

I also use BP break in a few turns of lightweight paper for my cilindrical shells.

 

I'm still looking for a good filler to coat with BP though, I have the idea that I use too much pure BP to brek the shell, and most breaks are asymetrical. Though this might be the shells fault, and not the break.

 

A good filler should be:

-porous

-light

-easy to wet

-don't become too soggy when wetted

-free (or extremely cheap)

 

I find rice crispies a bit too expensive and haven't found any less expensive brands or replacer.

I was just thinking about expanded perlite (not that I have any) I heard this stuff is cheap, bulky and lightweight, should it be combustible or would it perform better when inert?

I don't think fallout would pose a problem as it's light and won't fly very far.

[optimus]

Hexamine is not a chlorine donor. It probably wouldn't adversly affect the formula too much if you leave it out, the closest replacement would probably be stearic acid, which has a similar function.

[styropyro]

You could probably use lactose as a substitute for hexamine if you can't get hexamine. They pretty much have the same functions.

[cplmac]

really nice blue, how does it look in the air?

[Mumbles]

It it looks that good on the ground, it must look amazing in the air.

[delta_echo]

That seems like a bit overkill on the dextrin. Think I could reduce it to 5% and still get good results? I'm more worried about driving in the stars than anything else. Maybe replace the 3% with red gum and bind with water/alcohol?

[hashashan]

The hexamine cools the composition down. The formed CuCl that gloes blue brakes down in very low temperatures, therefore you cant use the usual fuels.

you can use Sulfur but that will be unwise considering the Chlorate. So hexamine does seem like last resort.

Also one might try sugar, although the temperature is fairly high but it is better then most of the fuels.

[Crazy Swede]

hashashan is correct, hexamine is used to keep the temperature down and it also to expands the flame.

 

Hexamine is best substituted by urea or stearic acid in low amounts.

[hashashan]

urea is dangerous in chlorate or bromate compounds because it can form ammonium chlorate/bromate

[Crazy Swede]

urea is dangerous in chlorate or bromate compounds because it can form ammonium chlorate/bromate

Really?

 

I have never heard of chlorates and urea being incompatible!

 

What is the reation forming the ammonium ion since urea, (NH2)2CO, is an ammine as far as I understand?

[hashashan]

IIRC when urea decomposes ammonium is formed

once again i might be wrong here, if i am dont kill me

 

btw. i tried sugar + hexamine... still too high temperature , the color is too white. anyone knows ANY cool burning composition besides Sulfur?

[DeAdFX]

IIRC when urea decomposes ammonium is formed

once again i might be wrong here, if i am dont kill me 

 

btw. i tried sugar + hexamine... still too high temperature , the color is too white. anyone knows ANY cool burning composition besides Sulfur?

Urea decomposes into Ammonia and Carbon dioxide. The reaction is normally takes a very long time to complete but urease(catalyst) can be used to speed up the reaction significantly. Also water needs to be present for the reaction to even happen. Strong bases can also liberate Ammonia from Urea because Urea can also be thought of as Ammonia Cyanate.

 

 

YOu could try cutting some of the Hexamine with glycine. This will help lower the temperature. One major disadvantage is that if you use to much glycine the pyrotechnic mixture will either be to difficult to ignite(if you use AMmonium Perchlorate) or the flame envelope size will be way to small.