11 replies to this topic

[pyrotechnist]

Has anyone ever tried Copper Nitrate to create a rich blue? To me personally it would seem promising as a secondary oxidizer within a modified blue formula or as a single oxidizer though I aint sure how much chlorine it produces.

[CCH Concepts]

though I aint sure how much chlorine it produces.

copper(II) nitrate would be Cu(NO₃)₂ if im not mistaken. there is no chlorine?

[Potassium chlorate]

copper(II) nitrate would be Cu(NO₃)₂ if im not mistaken. there is no chlorine?

But with a chlorine donor it'd work like barium or strontium nitrate(?) giving a blue colour.

[Creepin_pyro]

Has anyone ever tried Copper Nitrate to create a rich blue? To me personally it would seem promising as a secondary oxidizer within a modified blue formula or as a single oxidizer though I aint sure how much chlorine it produces.

I've thought about it, but it's deliquescent. Obviously not a desirable characteristic in pyro formulea...

[CCH Concepts]

from what i have read should work, cant see why it wont produce CuCl and heat which from what i gather is all thats needed. i wounder what the forum elders think, lol.

[CCH Concepts]

I've thought about it, but it's deliquescent. Obviously not a desirable characteristic in pyro formulea...

ive just started reading weingarts book, about 30 mins ago i looked up "deliquescent", never seen it said before now its all im seeing lol.

[pyrotechnist]

Could any stars not be bound with nitrocellulose to make them water proof and give some sort of protective barrier to stop the copper from absorbing surrounding moisture? or petroleum jelly etc.

[Potassium chlorate]

Could any stars not be bound with nitrocellulose to make them water proof and give some sort of protective barrier to stop the copper from absorbing surrounding moisture? or petroleum jelly etc.

I'm using parlon for my stars now. It protects against water and inhibits spontaneous reactions between metal powders and /per/chlorates, except for ammoniumperchlorate.

[pyrotechnist]

Dont you need to use paint stripper or something to turn parlon into a binder?

[Potassium chlorate]

Dont you need to use paint stripper or something to turn parlon into a binder?

Acetone or ethyl acetate or a mix of ethyl acetate and m/ethanol will do.

[Mumbles]

The problem enlies in obtaining an anhydrous product to begin with. You cannot dry it with heat. It decomposes into NOx before it gives up the water. It has to be prepared from copper metal and N2O4. When reacting with nitric acid, even anhydrous, it oxidizes part of the nitric to NO2 and water. Maybe if you used a large excess of fuming nitric acid it could work.

Even if you managed to obtain some of the anhydrous material, it'd absorb enough water from the surrounding atmosphere during mixing the comp and all that to probably render the comp pretty slow burning. I am also unsure if NC or parlon would render the composition waterproof enough. Yeah, it might work for weak dessicants like Sr(NO3)2, or NaNO3, but things like this are another animal all together. All of these plastics still allow some level of gas (incl water) transfer.

[Creepin_pyro]

Indeed.

I think this snipped from REC.PYRO sums it un nicely:

I've done anhydrous copper nitrate. It requires the use of N2O4 as solvent and
some fairly expensive apparatus. Not one for the average pyro :-)
It doesn't like being exposed to air.

There are various discussions on the subject if anyone's interested.