If you intend to make flash powder, you will have the best results as far as sound produced per volume or weight by over fueling the mix, and using
atmospheric O2 to burn vaporized residual metal fuel.
If you are making a detonating mixture, you will need to have it quite Oxygen rich to function at all.
If you intend to produce a photo flash and want the maximum light output, look to include strong emmiters such as Sodium or Barium, or once again,
dramatically overfuel the mixture and have a large cloud of metal vapor burning in atmospheric O2.
The ammonium perchlorate/Mg flash mixture has all gaseous reaction products (magnesium oxide and chloride are gasses at those temperatures), it
releases more gas volume and energy per weight than nitroglycerin. The gasses are also transparent to light unlike a cloud of Al oxide. If it were
more storage stable, it would be of commercial interest. The hexavalent chrome used for coating Mg is bad stuff...
Ammonium nitrate in a large enough volume will sustain detonation without fuel and sensitizers. Ammonium perchlorate doesn't do this. Shimizu
published results of attempts to make a detonable AP analog to amonal. It didn't propagate.
[Edited on 27-3-2013 by Bert]
[Edited on 27-3-2013 by Bert] |