16 replies to this topic

[seymour]

Nitrocellulose does increase flame size, thus star brightness.

However I fully agree that for most people, using it when not needed is a big waste. I personally use it for...

- Binding Ammonium perchlorate/metal compositions to exclude water and increase shelf life (so that it has a shelf life at all).

- For binding barrier layers between Ammonium perchlorate and Potassium nitrate.

- For binding dragon eggs.

If you have a lot of it and you can get a lot more, then by all means, use heaps! It's a very nice substance and should improve many coloured compositions, if only slightly.

For the rest of us, I strongly suggest saving it for those few situations where it is actually NEEDED, which tends to mean "When using Ammonium perchlorate, and even then only sometimes".

[whoof]

I have done a few tests i you are interested.

NC laquer (hard) seems to have a nitrogen content of around 12 to 12.3 % which is just below The explosive threshold of 12.5 %
It does however have 20 % something else, Phlegmatiser ? Which seems to slow it down.
Dissolving ping pong balls and flashcotton then painting 3 lines on filter paper shows that flashcotton burns the quickest.

Comparing ping pong and laquer seeems more difficult to get repeatable results, sometimes quicker sometimes slower.

I will try to come up with a comparative test for binding strength once i have sorted the repeatability problem.

Also hardened laquer does not dissolve well in acetone so i suspect some sort of catalysed reaction.

I am gessing that it may improve colours due to less evoulvment of smoke, Will try that later.