Linus1208
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Flare composition I discovered
So I discovered quite a bright and simple to make Flare composition.
It consists of TCCA and Magnesium (40µm) in a 1:1 ratio, grind down the TCCA in a Coffe grinder (If your coffe grinder is made from steel, stainless
or not, get out the TCCA asap after grinding and wash it out thoroughly with water). Then just mix both ingredients by stirring or shaking (it's not
shock or friction sensitive), make sure there are no clumps left.
The mixture can be easily ignited with a normal fuse (it's quite sensitive to sparks / flame) and burns quickly (but not flashpowder-like) and very
bright (see video in attachment), the amount used in the video was 4g, the video is in 8x slow motion.
The reaction behind this composition is quite interesting (and also the initial reason I wanted to try this experiment), because in this case TCCA
acts as a source of chlorine, oxygen and nitrogen, all of which can oxidize the Magnesium, which is also the reason there's untypically few oxidizing
agent (TCCA) in the composition, 1:1 is actually the stoichometric ratio.
2C3Cl3N3O3 + 12Mg = 6C + 3MgCl2 + 3Mg3N2 + 6MgO
The remaining carbon is left as a black, grainy or foam-like residue.
Attachment: IMG_5525.mov (2.8MB)
This file has been downloaded 696 times
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Steam
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Very nice, is the blue-tint an artifact of the camera or does it have that color in-person? Also, about how much powder did you use in that test?
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Linus1208
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I don't really know, in person it just looked blindingly bright, I was immediatly seing spots (or rather, one very large spot).
Maybe I'll do another test from more far away (and with a better fuse  ) so I
will be able to see better.
The amount, as said, was around 4 grams. In terms of volume I would say it was something like a teaspoon full.
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Elemental Phosphorus
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This reminds me of when I was experimenting with some chlorine-containing flash mixtures. I used to mix pool shock (about 70% calcium hypochlorite
with the remainder calcium chloride) with magnalium powder (325 mesh) in around a 2:1 ratio and it was extremely bright, although not fast like flash
powder. It also wouldn't always burn completely, if you torched a pile of it sometimes there would be unreacted powder left.
Also the effect on that video seems similar to some compositions using spherical aluminum and sulfur, in terms of burn rate. I've never seen that
blue, though.
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macckone
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TCCA is a good oxidizer. It reacts pretty well with glycols as well.
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Linus1208
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Quote: Originally posted by Elemental Phosphorus  | This reminds me of when I was experimenting with some chlorine-containing flash mixtures. I used to mix pool shock (about 70% calcium hypochlorite
with the remainder calcium chloride) with magnalium powder (325 mesh) in around a 2:1 ratio and it was extremely bright, although not fast like flash
powder. It also wouldn't always burn completely, if you torched a pile of it sometimes there would be unreacted powder left.
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Also did experiments with that a while ago, but with Magnesium instead of Magnalium. It burnt very slowly, but probably because I assumed the "pool
shock" kind of chlorine granules to also be TCCA, and only took the chlorine of the TCCA into attention when calculating the stoichiometry. Or in
shorter words, I totally screwed up calculating the ratio.
| Quote: Originally posted by Elemental Phosphorus |
Also the effect on that video seems similar to some compositions using spherical aluminum and sulfur, in terms of burn rate. I've never seen that
blue, though.
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Also did a few experiments with that, but if I remember correctly it burnt slower (I was using 40µm sph. Al).
In one experiment, I somehow reversed the mixing ratio and had to balance it with more of the other compound, so I had like 200g of the mixture.
I put it in tin can which I again put in an old steel bucked. The steel bucked later turned out to be slightly wet, because after a few seconds of
burning it the composition melted through the tin can, there was a slight crackling noice before it violently exploded, showering me and the lawn in
~3m radius with hot, molten very brightly burning drops of the composition.Fortunately no one was hurt, I got hit by one of the drops in my hair but
it didnt do much besides a small bundle of hair sticking together
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Elemental Phosphorus
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| Quote: Originally posted by Linus1208 | | Quote: Originally posted by Elemental Phosphorus | This reminds me of when I was experimenting with some chlorine-containing flash mixtures. I used to mix pool shock (about 70% calcium hypochlorite
with the remainder calcium chloride) with magnalium powder (325 mesh) in around a 2:1 ratio and it was extremely bright, although not fast like flash
powder. It also wouldn't always burn completely, if you torched a pile of it sometimes there would be unreacted powder left.
|
Also did experiments with that a while ago, but with Magnesium instead of Magnalium. It burnt very slowly, but probably because I assumed the "pool
shock" kind of chlorine granules to also be TCCA, and only took the chlorine of the TCCA into attention when calculating the stoichiometry. Or in
shorter words, I totally screwed up calculating the ratio.
| Quote: Originally posted by Elemental Phosphorus |
Also the effect on that video seems similar to some compositions using spherical aluminum and sulfur, in terms of burn rate. I've never seen that
blue, though.
|
Also did a few experiments with that, but if I remember correctly it burnt slower (I was using 40µm sph. Al).
In one experiment, I somehow reversed the mixing ratio and had to balance it with more of the other compound, so I had like 200g of the mixture.
I put it in tin can which I again put in an old steel bucked. The steel bucked later turned out to be slightly wet, because after a few seconds of
burning it the composition melted through the tin can, there was a slight crackling noice before it violently exploded, showering me and the lawn in
~3m radius with hot, molten very brightly burning drops of the composition.Fortunately no one was hurt, I got hit by one of the drops in my hair but
it didnt do much besides a small bundle of hair sticking together |
That result with the pool shock seems consistent with what I did, I'm sure there is TCCA shock, but in my experience TCCA comes more commonly as tabs.
Either way the label should indicate.
In my experiment with Al-Sulfur, I was using 5 micron spherical, so it was probably a little faster. 325 mesh flake magnalium and 325 flake magnesium
were both much faster with sulfur, they were fast like a true flash powder (although not as powerful as perchlorate/2 micron dark flake Al flash) and
some of the magnalium-sulfur powder in a tube produced a report, although again not nearly as loud as with a similar quantity of perchlorate flash. I
never confined the Mg-S mix as it was crazy sensitive.
That said, maybe I'll have to whip up some of this TCCA mix, I always like to play with new flash powders.
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Linus1208
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| Quote: Originally posted by Elemental Phosphorus |
That result with the pool shock seems consistent with what I did, I'm sure there is TCCA shock, but in my experience TCCA comes more commonly as tabs.
Either way the label should indicate. |
They probably don't put it on the lable to prevent people making explosives from it.
| Quote: Originally posted by Elemental Phosphorus |
In my experiment with Al-Sulfur, I was using 5 micron spherical, so it was probably a little faster. 325 mesh flake magnalium and 325 flake magnesium
were both much faster with sulfur, they were fast like a true flash powder (although not as powerful as perchlorate/2 micron dark flake Al flash) and
some of the magnalium-sulfur powder in a tube produced a report, although again not nearly as loud as with a similar quantity of perchlorate flash. I
never confined the Mg-S mix as it was crazy sensitive.
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Mg-S is often used among pyro amateurs here in Germany (mostly in an 1:1 ratio, although some people claim that a 6:4 Mg/S mix is more energetic, but
if this only can be true unconfined), as even nitrates are very restricted, don't even think about perchlorates. But it's only made with 45µm
spherical Mg, which makes it less sensitive and OK to handle, but it's still quite strong and makes a nice sound (not as sharp as some of the
strongest flashs do).
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AJKOER
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Some of the visible effects may be due to the associated high temperatures involved and the metal container.
See, for example, this work, "High-temperature chemistry of HCl and Cl2", freely available at https://backend.orbit.dtu.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/128840669... .
Some detail on underlying chlorine-related radical chemistry. Note, reactions citing OClO, which is as a precursor, in other conditions (not high
temperature) for chlorate formation.
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Linus1208
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| Quote: Originally posted by AJKOER | Some of the visible effects may be due to the associated high temperatures involved and the metal container.
See, for example, this work, "High-temperature chemistry of HCl and Cl2", freely available at https://backend.orbit.dtu.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/128840669... .
Some detail on underlying chlorine-related radical chemistry. Note, reactions citing OClO, which is as a precursor, in other conditions (not high
temperature) for chlorate formation. |
Thanks for the information, I'll read through it when I have time.
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