Elimination of Perchlorate Oxidizers from Yellow Pyrotechnic Flare Compositions
Abstract
Fielded pyrotechnic compositions containing the environmentally-hazardous oxidizer potassium perchlorate are highly scrutinized due to increasing government regulations to limit ground water contamination. A perchlorate-free yellow flare composition for future implementation into the Mk 144 Yellow Signal Flare is presented. The reformulated yellow signal flare composition was developed by employing a "color mixing" technique which utilizes sodium nitrate, barium nitrate, and polyvinyl chloride as alternative oxidizers to produce Na emission lines in the orange region of the spectrum and BaCl and BaOH emission lines in the green region of the spectrum. By utilizing this approach, the resulting dominant wavelength of this perchlorate-free flare appears yellow to an observer. The combustion characteristics of the perchlorate-free yellow flare compositions are documented using 15- gram pellet linear burn rate experiments instrumented with high-speed imaging, a tristimulus detector to document the illuminance and a visual spectrometer to document the spectral intensity. The in-service yellow perchlorate-containing formulation was tested side-by-side with the perchlorate-free versions for comparison purposes. Specifically, the burn rates were reasonably similar, the luminous intensity of the perchlorate-free versions was slightly higher, and dominant wavelengths and color purities were also comparable to slightly improved. Since the perchlorate-free replacement composition is intended to be of lower environmental impact, the combustion residue from the in-service and perchlorate-free compositions were analyzed via mass spectrometry techniques to attempt to identify environmentally hazardous species (e.g., perchlorates). Experimentally identified combustion products will be compared to that predicted from the thermochecmical equilibrium code NASA CEA.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 11, 2015
- Accession Number
- ADA628268
Entities
People
- Christina Yamamoto
- Eric Miklaszewski
- Jonathan M. Dilger
Organizations
- Naval Surface Warfare Center