Road Flare Comp? - Archive File

[Anthony]

Bubba
Frequent Poster
Posts: 71
From:
Registered: DEC 2000
posted February 22, 2001 02:54 PM
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What is the composition of a typical road flare? I cut one open and was going to use the chemicals in reloading of my 37mm flare gun shells.


Anthony
Moderator
Posts: 2312
From: England
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 22, 2001 03:54 PM
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They're filled with a strontium nitrate composition.


HMTD Factory
Frequent Poster
Posts: 217
From:
Registered: FEB 2001
posted February 22, 2001 04:34 PM
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Normally some low explosive mixed with metal salts that gives out different color.
If the charge is in solid form then let it stay in solid form (don't grind it into powder) or you are turning it into a bomb.


Bubba
Frequent Poster
Posts: 71
From:
Registered: DEC 2000
posted February 22, 2001 04:51 PM
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Gotcha...well its a red flare. It got wet so I cut it open and its currently drying out. Is Strontium Nitrate useful for anything other than flares?


blackadder
Frequent Poster
Posts: 313
From: London
Registered: DEC 2000
posted February 23, 2001 07:18 PM
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It can be used in making stars for fireworks. Ones that burn red, that is.


BoB-
Frequent Poster
Posts: 651
From:
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 24, 2001 06:27 AM
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Theyre red--They stink, Strotnium Nitrate (like Anthony said) And some probably contain sulfer, they may have other things in them...Damn! the pyro comp database is down, I almost answered your question.(?)


Mr Cool
Frequent Poster
Posts: 991
From: None of your bloody business!
Registered: DEC 2000
posted February 24, 2001 09:41 AM
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A typical mixture is something like:
50% Strontium nitrate,
30% Al powder,
10% Potassium perchlorate,
10% shellac.

There are also mixtures similar to flash powder with strontium carbonate added and packed tightly so that they don't explode.


Bubba
Frequent Poster
Posts: 71
From:
Registered: DEC 2000
posted February 24, 2001 01:30 PM
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Thanks guys!! Maybe I'll make stars....


PHILOU Zrealone
Frequent Poster
Posts: 479
From: Brussels,Belgium,Europe
Registered: SEP 2000
posted February 28, 2001 11:21 AM
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Be the star of the show but don't be a burning star
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"Life that deadly disease sexually transmitted".
"Chemistry is all what stinks and explode; Physic is all what never works! ;-p :-) :o )"

[Rocket-Boy]

This is an old file, that doesn't answer a question I have. I have some flares that are say, 14-15 years old. I assume they will be the standard red trafic flares. How sensitive are these going to be? I'm a lil scared to strike one to see the color and if it will still work. What is the half life of most flares? I'm in Arizona so I know that they have stayed dry. If I open these am I going to end up a little messed up?

I found these in my garage, way in the back of a shelf that hasn't been used for 14 years my uncle says (I'm living with him). I was doing some cleaning and saw these and was like "Ohhh fuck.", I assume there is an explosive in flares to start the MG that is in them. Is it safe to move these?

[brother john]

A Google Search would be a good place to start with a question such as this. Most often products found in the marketplace have an MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) available. That will tell you at least the chemical composition & the dangers of each. The flares I disassembled had lots of sulfur,some of what appeared to be sawdust, the comp smelled like diesel, I'm guessing for waterproofing, strontium nitrate for the red color, & according to the MSDS also potassium perchlorate. I'm not wanting to spoon-feed but help you see much information can be found on the Web. Flares are pretty exciting in appearance but shucks, they aren't sticks of dynamite. It's more fun hitting a book of matches with a sledge hammer.
I found some flares the cops left at an accident scene. They had the appearance of having gone out. Some had just a little of the composition gone, hardly past the igniter comp. Might not have been but they sure looked like they fizzled out. I extracted with water what would dissolve & after waiting days for the solids to settle, pouring off the liquid, then evaporating, rinsing with a spray bottle. drying the rinsed crystals, I finally ended up with a couple of pounds of snow white crystals which at this point must be a mixture of SrNO3 &KClO4. I need to do some studying on how to seperate those two just to do it.

[freaky_frank]

I've heard those stadium torches are Sr(NO3)2 and PVC and KClO3.

[~Phelixx~]

I once messed around with some Sr(NO3)2. A mixture I tested was
KClO3 2g
Sr(NO3)2 4g
Lactose 2g

of wich I have an image of.
http://www.infernolabs.co.uk/filehost/flaremix.jpg
It burned for app. 6 seconds, and the alufoil it was placed on wasn't melted at all. But as it can be seen on the image, the mixture was a bit more orange than red (the walls are normally white).
I also have a document containing 8 different red road flare compositions, if anyone would be interested in this. I believe I once found it on google though...

Edit: Freaky Frank, if you have the exact composition, I could test it some day although I'm low on the pvc :(

[freaky_frank]

LOL everyone is low on PVC, I've heard from another forum that also 3 members where low on PVC.
Anyway I don't have the exact composition but I do know that you should use this:
Composition:
Sr(NO3)2………55
Mg…………………28
PVC………………17

http://home.conceptsfa.nl/~sniper/plaatjes/compositie/rood/RD3Z.jpg

And the yellow is just because the camera get's so much light that he can't keep the colors seperated the same is with the eye.
When it gets very bright it is white then yellow and then the originial color, you should place it in a bigger room and stand further away.

[~Phelixx~]

Indeed that is a nice red colour!
How fine is the Mg?
If it gets approved, I have added the beforementioned document, containing the 8 different flare comp FYI.

[freaky_frank]

The Mg was 50 um (micronmeter).

[Pietruszkin]

i recommend blesser's organic fueld mixture:

kclo3 - 3,8 g
sr(no3)2 - 3,8 g
red gum - 0,6 g (it is not necessary, ya don't need this, you can get more C)
charcoal - 1,2 g
dextrin - 4 g

(this mixture modified by me, but works Ok)

greetz to this board, and to thebroken crew, ya leet! :cool:

[freaky_frank]

You use more dextrine than whatever else, and dextrin contains a little bit of NaHCO3.
And the Na in it will fuck up the color even very little bit of NaHCO3 in the dextrin willl.
And I prefer. And you shouldn't use 2 oxidizers but a chlorine donor insted of the KClO3
Use:
Sr(NO3)2 55
Mg 28
PVC 17
dextrin or shellac 5

[truonggiang_male90]

My composition is :
KClO3 -5
silicon glue - 5
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and this is the video, not bad
http://img.youtube.com/vi/JrFTo7q-zkg/default.jpg
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JrFTo7q-zkg

[Charles Owlen Picket]

What I hear from folks on rec.pyro (way back when) was that the Olin formula was

Sr(NO3)2 - 50%
KClO3 - 25%
wood chips - 5%
S -10%
Mg powder >10um 10%

I broke one open and --- sure enough I saw wood chips! (?) However this seems somewhat expensive. I did hear from several sources that Mg did enhance the coloration effects of nitrates (Shimizu).

[Bert]

Most likely perchlorate, not chlorate. See the various hysteria regarding perchlorate in ground water around the Olin factory...

They don't use Mg, or any other metal fuel AFAIK. Look at the mix, if you've got one open. The shelf life of an article made with fine Mg powder is also
rather short.

They do use Sulfur in the mix. Just stand down wind of one burning to confirm THAT. Sulfur is a high enough temp. fuel to give good color with nitrate.

[Charles Owlen Picket]

I think you hit it right. I can't see anyone using sub-sieve Mg powder and I don't think they used chlorates in US mfg materials. But 10% may not be a visible level of metal powder at that fine a level.
I remember someone talking about how either there is a use of a chlorine doner or metallic-nitrate color enhancement in flares; which made sense but S is hot enough.

[Bert]

Think CHEAP. Sawdust and Sulfur as fuel. Just enough Strontium nitrate to color it red, and barely enough Potassium perchlorate to keep it burning... You don't need an additional chlorine donor for red. Small amount of kerosene to aid compaction and keep the dust from flying, also it helps a bit with the nitrate's tendency to absorb water. Waxed paper case to extend lifetime in storage, also is additional fuel.

As a young teen, I took some apart, dissolved out the oxidizer and used it to make a small batch of something that burned a bit faster...

[Yafmot]

Slow burning comps, such as smoke or flares, will frequently use KCl03 instead of Perchlorate because of the low percentage used. The reduced combustion activity necessitates the use of an oxidizer that decomposes with less input energy.

When I was a kid (think '60s), we'd bag a bunch of railway torpedos every time we had a shot at a caboose, and we'd also grab a few "railway fusees" which, as far as I could tell, were the exact same thing as a highway flare.

We had no idea you could remove "good stuff" from them, and besides, when you've got a pile of torpedos, which make an M-80 look like a ladyfinger, you tend to look at a flare the way a serious pyro would look at a sparkler; amusing, but nothing orgasmic.

(Ive got to hunt around and see if I can find a thread on railroad torpedos; I miss the little fuckers.)

[Bert]

The fuseee mix generally contains Sulfur. Guess that's a reson they'd use perchlorate rather than chlorate... See the perchlorate ground water contamination suit against Olin for further confirmation that they use perchlorate.

The commercial railroad torpedo went the way of the dodo shortly after 9/11. Not hard to reproduce with chlorate and Antimony sulfide though.

[Charles Owlen Picket]

The water contamination suit against Olin was right on the money (no pun intended.) What I kept on thinking about was the big accident in Nevada with the ammonium perchlorate plant vs Olin's issue....Olin must have just not cleaned up what-so-ever. I don't think they had a Super-Fund issue after the Nevada disaster.

[PETERCPA]

Slow burning comps, such as smoke or flares, will frequently use KCl03 instead of Perchlorate because of the low percentage used. The reduced combustion activity necessitates the use of an oxidizer that decomposes with less input energy.

When I was a kid (think '60s), we'd bag a bunch of railway torpedoes every time we had a shot at a caboose.

Now I know why we kept on running into empty lanterns. You got there first. They were something. Red varnished paper, folded up so it was an inch square and 5/8 of an inch thick. The square had about 1/4 oz of a whitish, yellowish powder. The red paper was folded over a lead band about a half inch wide and four inches long. You wrapped the lead around the track, waited for a train and BOOM. The whole track kinda rang to. It never failed. The train always stopped. The brakeman's kerosene lantern had a red lense and was a the rear or the caboose. There were usually four or five 5 minute fusees and three or four torpedos. It's was in fifth grade that Lt. Fish came to our house to investigate the missing torpedos.

The fusees didn't have metal. They were an oxidizer, sulfur and word chips. About the lowest level or pyrotechnic compounding ever done. But we loved them.....