NitratedKittens
Hazard to Others
Posts: 131
Registered: 13-4-2015
Location: In the basket with all the other kittens
Member Is Offline
Mood: Carbonated
|
|
Simple energetics
what kind of energetics can I make with charcoal dust, potassium nitrate , sodium acetate , sulphur , sodium bicarbonate , sodium carbonate, sodium
hydroxide , potassium hydroxide , IPA , and dextrin
Basket of kittens for you ........BOOM
|
|
Jylliana
Hazard to Others
Posts: 126
Registered: 3-10-2014
Location: The Netherlands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Bubbly ^-^
|
|
A gram of potassium nitrate and some powdered charcoal make a nice, docile 'flash powder'.
That's all I'm going to give you because I have kewl doubts.
|
|
Bert
|
Thread Moved 13-4-2015 at 05:18 |
Loptr
International Hazard
Posts: 1348
Registered: 20-5-2014
Location: USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Grateful
|
|
There are volumes of information on this topic.
Besides, it looks like you have the ingredients for making black powder, so I would suggest starting there.
|
|
NitratedKittens
Hazard to Others
Posts: 131
Registered: 13-4-2015
Location: In the basket with all the other kittens
Member Is Offline
Mood: Carbonated
|
|
I have tried to make black powder for 2 years with no success
Basket of kittens for you ........BOOM
|
|
szuko03
Hazard to Others
Posts: 188
Registered: 3-4-2015
Location: USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Black powder is a science in its own right. What I mean is even if you have the formula and everything you still need to be exact and account for
variables in your mixing. You will not be able to produce black powder without exact ratios, pure products, and a ball mill for uniform mixing. If you
simply mix things without a balance you will get no where.
If you tried for 2 years and have not had success you need more experience before you move up. I agree with others you need a few more years of
experience, keep trying that BP youll get it.
Chemistry is a natural drive, not an interest.
|
|
hyfalcon
International Hazard
Posts: 1003
Registered: 29-3-2012
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Intimate mixing and fineness of ingredients makes for successful BP.
|
|
Loptr
International Hazard
Posts: 1348
Registered: 20-5-2014
Location: USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Grateful
|
|
Ensuring the chemicals are completely dry and ball milling the heck out of it, followed by wetting, granulation, and drying, will ensure a decent
quality BP.
You can also sieve the powder to ensure consistent size of granules, which will allow you to predict its performance.
I have a couple books on the subject. When I used to actively mess around with pyrotechnics, sometimes I would end up with a very hot BP that would
blow up my rockets, etc. Yeah, I didn't make the most consistent BP, as it would range from good to overly excited when burning. I think it might have
been the different in charcoals.
|
|
deltaH
Dangerous source of unreferenced speculation
Posts: 1663
Registered: 30-9-2013
Location: South Africa
Member Is Offline
Mood: Heavily protonated
|
|
Quote: Originally posted by szuko03 | Black powder is a science in its own right. What I mean is even if you have the formula and everything you still need to be exact and account for
variables in your mixing. You will not be able to produce black powder without exact ratios, pure products, and a ball mill for uniform mixing. If you
simply mix things without a balance you will get no where.
If you tried for 2 years and have not had success you need more experience before you move up. I agree with others you need a few more years of
experience, keep trying that BP youll get it. |
Actually, exact ratio's for black powder are not critical for general 'performance' and indeed historically different ratios have been used to the
classical 10:15:75 we all know.
This gentleman did excellent work on proving this:
http://musketeer.ch/blackpowder/recipe.html
|
|
Texium
Administrator
Posts: 4587
Registered: 11-1-2014
Location: Salt Lake City
Member Is Offline
Mood: PhD candidate!
|
|
I wouldn't say a ball mill is absolutely necessary either unless you're making a whole lot of it and/or need it be very consistent. I've made black
powder of the 10:15:75 ratio using only a simple ceramic mortar and pestle to grind up the components as finely as I could, and it still burned
vigorously. For my materials, I used sulfur powder from Duda Diesel, potassium nitrate recrystallized from stump remover, and activated carbon from
the pet store.
You can also make a mixture called yellow powder from a combination of potassium nitrate, potassium or sodium carbonate (must be anhydrous), and
sulfur. It's a bit of a strange one though. You have to melt it a bit before igniting it, so that it will form polysulfides. Once you do that it
becomes quite sensitive. If you don't melt it before igniting it, it will burn very slowly. I don't remember what the proper ratio is for it as it's
been over a year since I made it, but you can probably find out a bunch about it around the internet.
|
|
Bert
Super Administrator
Posts: 2821
Registered: 12-3-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: " I think we are all going to die. I think that love is an illusion. We are flawed, my darling".
|
|
Fulminating Katz!
The information is freely available online.
Ian von Maltitz: Black Powder Manufacture, Testing & Optimizing PDF
It took me (as a young teenager) about a year to figure black powder out with a very limited technical library NO internet access, 40 odd years ago.
If you can't figure BP out with a computer, Google and the whole internet at your disposal?!
If you are not a troll, you are someone who should not be allowed to handle chemicals, explosives or many small kitchen appliances.
[Edited on 13-4-2015 by Bert]
Rapopart’s Rules for critical commentary:
1. Attempt to re-express your target’s position so clearly, vividly and fairly that your target says: “Thanks, I wish I’d thought of putting it
that way.”
2. List any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement).
3. Mention anything you have learned from your target.
4. Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism.
Anatol Rapoport was a Russian-born American mathematical psychologist (1911-2007).
|
|
Etaoin Shrdlu
National Hazard
Posts: 724
Registered: 25-12-2013
Location: Wisconsin
Member Is Offline
Mood: Insufferable
|
|
Don't make any other energetics until you figure out black powder.
|
|
NitratedKittens
Hazard to Others
Posts: 131
Registered: 13-4-2015
Location: In the basket with all the other kittens
Member Is Offline
Mood: Carbonated
|
|
Thank you for all the help, I will try again at black powder, oh and I have
tried yellow powder it has a lot of suspense in the ignition process.
Basket of kittens for you ........BOOM
|
|
NitratedKittens
Hazard to Others
Posts: 131
Registered: 13-4-2015
Location: In the basket with all the other kittens
Member Is Offline
Mood: Carbonated
|
|
Thanks Bert that PDF was very helpful!
I am positively beaming with my successful black powder and would like to thank everyone who contributed
Basket of kittens for you ........BOOM
|
|
george76904
Harmless
Posts: 8
Registered: 17-4-2015
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
I also am getting into energetics after making my own pyrotechnics for the past few years. I found black powder manufacture to be relatively easy when
I picked up a cheap "ball mill"(3&or6lb rotary rock tumbler) from harbor freight. I threw them all in with some lead balls and after a few hours I
had decent mill dust. But I used dextrin as a binder and sure enough I was able to make good BP for any purpose. Hope this helps,
Will
|
|