12 replies to this topic

[Arthur Brown]

What compound do the Chinese use for their crackers? Just noticed that the contents of the tube is a pale blue-green in colour -def no charcoal in there!

[pyrotechnist]

I thought they just used flash powder?

[Mortartube]

In the past, there have been a few siezures of crackers that have been sulphur chlorate based flash. You may have one of those, the occasional rogue still gets in. Be careful.

[Arthur Brown]

This particular batch is all fired and swept up now! They were entirely red tubes with a pale blue-green compound. I'm at a loss to know what materials there were in the comp as BP and like are black, and flash is a neutral grey, Sulphur would I thought impart a yellow to the hue.

[pyrotechnist]

Some of the chemicals may have been contaminated or a cheap aluminum used. I know the Chinese seem to cut corners on stuff and use anything they have got.

[wjames]

yeah, ive seen some dodgey stuff......mainly when i spent some time in tokyo......

id say, from my experience....most of the chinese type firecrackers ive seen have been flash.... no doubt.

the only ones i had that were BP....were much quieter....and i could only tell they were BP by the distinct smell !


Blue though.....was it a fine powder, or granulated ?

[pyrotechnist]

Failing contamination maybe they used recycled aluminum which contains a blue paint rendering the powder slightly blue.

[seymour]

I once asked a worker at a Chinese factory what chemicals they used, hoping to pull up some interesting ones. I did. Potassium permanganate!! I certainly hope it is used as a disinfectant. Somehow I'm not so sure of that.

[MDH]

Blue coloured whistle mix powders are not out of the question due to the usage of copper catalysts.

Did the powder appear to have any metals in it, or was it just a blue powder?

[Arthur Brown]

Yes, I'd go with copper salts - it was the right sort of colour for that. I didn't think of a catalyst being needed in flash or BP.

[MDH]

It's likely a cheap composition similar to the burning speed of whistle and accelerated by copper.

BP could appear slightly blue with Iron Sulfate as a catalyst and an oxidizer in black powder. It's is known for speeding up nitrate compositions - However, hydrated states are the only ones being noted as a blue or green colour. Anhydrous FeSO4 is always white or tanned...

Edited by MDH, 15 September 2008 - 08:16 PM.

[HASTINGS]

The french bangers in the red packets with the tiger on the front are chinese which everyone probally knows. which i used to buy 25 years ago as a school kid and noticed a they where still selling afew years ago had written potasium perchlorate written on them .And when opened where silvery blue which stained your fingers . The really small tom thumb bangers where black powder

Edited by HASTINGS, 16 September 2008 - 10:38 PM.

[Mumbles]

It might be a mid-grade aluminum powder. I have some Al that is somewhat of a mix between blackhead and a bright flake. It has both carbon, and a light stearic acid layer. It does take on a bit of a blue color when mixed into flash, even more so when there is a bit of sulfur in it.