Experimentation on boron blended flash powder composition to make safe fireworks

Abstract

In Firework Industries, Aluminium is one of the main ingredients which is used as a fuel and it induces brilliant performance during the fireworks display. However, the fine Aluminium powder is pyrophoric and hence the chances of ignition in the air are high and it also releases a huge amount of heat energy which becomes the source for fire hazards in firework industries. Thus, in the firework industry, special care is given while storing aluminium. The reactivity of the raw materials used in firework industries is less when compared with that of the mixture prepared in firework industries which comprise of a fuel and an oxidizer. In these, the mixtures containing fuel as aluminium, has high fire and explosion hazard. This is because of the sensitiveness of the mixture towards impact load, frictional load, temperature, static charge, etc. In this research work, the flash powder mixture used in firework industries was modified by substituting the fuel aluminium with boron, to reduce the workplace accidents and also the explosive tendency of firework products. The boron blended with the flash powder mixtures were subjected to various tests to measure the sensitivity due to impact loads, frictional loads, static charge, and temperature. The impact energy and the frictional energy needed for the ignition of boron mixed flash powder were found to be high than the impact and frictional energy needed for Aluminium-based flash powder. Also, the minimum ignition energy (MIE) tests were performed for all the existing and boron blended samples to determine the sensitivity of the dust cloud mixtures with respect to static charge. The minimum temperature needed for the ignition of boron blended flash powders was determined by performing the minimum ignition temperature (MIT) test and it is observed that the MIT of boron blended samples is found to be higher than that of the existing composition. newline