34 replies to this topic

[ExplosiveCoek]

Have you got caught anything on camera? And what composition did you use again?

[Potassium chlorate]

Have you got caught anything on camera? And what composition did you use again?

Alas, I have no good camera yet. I used a very simple Weingart formula: 90% Ba(ClO3)2 and 10% shellac. I dissolved the shellac in alcohol and then added the barium chlorate. After stirring for a while the mix formed like a "sediment" at the bottom of the glass jar I used, so I just poured off the alcohol and then put the mix in a thin walled paper tube with a plastic lid in the bottom. 10 cm viscofuse. Then I let it dry for about 24 hrs and it was ready.

Edited by Pyroswede, 06 February 2009 - 05:19 PM.

[Potassium chlorate]

The really great thing with Ba(ClO3)2 and the main reason that I purchased it in the first place is that it is:

1. A colour donor

2. A chlorine donor

3. An oxidizer

in one.

[spanner]

FWIW, I ran across another Bengal fire comp that uses Barium chlorate. The other chemicals it calls for may make this comp un-doable for you, though:

GREEN BENGAL FIRE
Barium nitrate..............59
Barium chlorate............23
Shellac........................10
Potassium chlorate.........6
Stearic acid...................1

Regards

[Potassium chlorate]

No, I can get all of them easily. I just wonder if the colour can be better. I've never seen a greener Bengal than this.

There are also metallic based comps that combine barium nitrate with barium benzoate but my experience is that metallic fueled Bengals blind you.

[spanner]

The only thing I would try, would be just a touch of additional chlorine donor- PVC or maybe parlon. Just to see if the chlorate was giving enough.

I can't say if the formula with the BaNO3 would be any "greener"- it sounds like what you have is good!

[Potassium chlorate]

It sure is. And remember that there are two chlorate ions in every Ba(ClO3)2 molecule, so there's plenty of chlorine anyway.

Edited by Pyroswede, 06 February 2009 - 07:57 PM.

[Potassium chlorate]

FWIW, I ran across another Bengal fire comp that uses Barium chlorate. The other chemicals it calls for may make this comp un-doable for you, though:

GREEN BENGAL FIRE
Barium nitrate..............59
Barium chlorate............23
Shellac........................10
Potassium chlorate.........6
Stearic acid...................1

Regards

I'll try this one some day anyway, since barium chlorate is very expensive compared to both barium nitrate and potassium chlorate. I made green flash the other day, and I noticed that even though barium chlorate already carries its own chlorine, potassium chlorate gives a nice addition of chlorine to barium chlorate mixes.

[Potassium chlorate]

OK, this is what the Ba(ClO₃)₂/shellac Bengal looks like. In reality it's even greener. The yellow colour in the video is green to the eye. I just used a mobile phone camera for this one.

Green Bengal

[sagoraMundy]

That's a glorious green, KCl03--even shot with your cell phone.

Curious: anyone tried making stars with this Ba(Cl03)2/Shellac formula?

Have found discussions of this but never any results.

Thanx for the width,
s

[Potassium chlorate]

I have made stars with it as well. They burn with a nice deep green, though not so bright, since they lack a metallic fuel. They must also be dried carefully but not too "brutal" since barium chlorate is pretty sensitive. They need a pretty hot prime to ignite but burn fiercefully once ignited.

[sagoraMundy]

Kool. I have a Shimzu (RIP--died last month at 99) prime that's pretty hot and has never failed me.

Gotta try this comp in a star.

Did a little mix last night for a Bengal and while it was drying I went out and lit off paper towel I used to wipe up the spills and it was the most amazing green burn I've ever gotten.

Thanx PC for sharing this formula.

[Potassium chlorate]

[sagoraMundy]

OK after letting my first bengal fire project dry for three days I lit it off. Pretty sure this AIN'T what's s'posed to happen:

http://tinyurl.com/4hojqvr

It's your suggested formula PC: 90% Barium Chlorate and 10% Shellac dissolved in alcohol.

Reading back, I notice you poured yours into a thin-walled paper tube; my tube was pretty stout. Wonder if that's why it went off instead of just burning?

[RFD]

Bengal tubes are usually thin walled ie three or four turns of paper,ideally the paper should burn away at the same speed as the composition,otherwise the flame will be obscured by the tube,thus defeating the object of lighting up the area,incidentally i have replaced red gum for shellac with equally good results.