My first blackpowder (sulfurless).

[thijs]

Hey here is my first (sulfurless) blackpowder.
It's KNO3/C 70:30
I ballmilled it for 1 1/2 hours and then granulated it with 96 % alcohol.

It's bbq charcoal.. So not the best, but the result is quite good for a first time I guess .

MOV03241.MPG

[Guest]

Yeah quite nice.
Congrats.
Did you ballmilled it together or apart ?

[thijs]

First for a few minuts only the charcoal, to get it a bit fine, then I milled it together.

[xxxjanusxxx]

I really have no idea how fast sulferless BP can become or has to be for decent use, but in your movie I saw a lot of sparks from the charcoal and some lumps of KNO₃ around the place where you ignited the meal. I suggest you might mill it for a longer period to get a more usefull meal, even for BBQ charcoal.
Do you use tiny pellets of KNO₃ or is it powdered already? In the first case you might mill the KNO₃ first so your milling process is more efficient.

How long is that wall going to stay white when you're testing your compositions at that place? :lol:

[thijs]

Sulfurless bp could become a lot faster, I've seen very fast sulfurless bp, just search on youtube and you'll find it.. But yes I think I need to mill it for a longer time and it will become better.
And my KNO3 is powdered but not so fine powdered as powdered sugar or something, so next time I'll first mill the KNO3 too
Thanks for your reaction,
and usually I dont test my stuff there Im scared I will one time get a fire at the balcony xD

[Hardcore Bob]

Blackpowder with sugar instead of sulfur is also sulfurless blackpowder. Right?
I guess this will burn even faster because of the sugar, which will work as a reducing agent in the comosition.

[pyrobass]

No black powder with sugar is no black powder, just sulfurless black powder mixed with sugar and it won't burn any faster, rather more slowly.

Before I was able to use sulfur I was using sulfurless blackpowder to. I used 8/2 KNO₃/C. The ingredients need to be mixed slightly moist and in this case also your choise of charcoal is very important. Soft wood charcoal will give a much better product. Sulfurless powders can burn just as fast as sulfur containing powders, but you will need long time of milling, 8 hours or so.

[Hardcore Bob]

I can't imagine that with the right proportions and if the sugar is also milled ofcourse, the composition will burn slower.
Usually sugar has huge crystals, like 1mm³.

Sure, if you take sulfurless blackpowder and add some suger, it will burn slower.

Edited February 26, 2009 by Hardcore Bob

[Leander]

In fact, talking about correct names, 'sulferless blackpowder' doesn't exist! Blackpowder is always a mixture of salpeter, charcoal and sulfur. Mixtures of salpeter and charcoal are called 'cacao powder'. This mixture was used quite often in history by armies like the French under Naploleon, since it´s much less corrisive to gun barrels.

Good cacao powder burns at least as fast as meal. The only drawback is the much lower gas output, which makes it less favorite in bursting charges etc. You can probably compare it with the difference between mealpowder and KP.

Sugar only makes such mixtures burn slower.

[miech]

If I may correct you, cacao powder is a mixture of potassium nitrate, brown carbonized straw and a pinch of sulfur. The speed it burns with depends very much on the degree of carbonisation of the straw. Too much and it burns slow, too less and it doesn't burn at all. Real cacao powder should under no occasion be ball milled, rammed or put in any friction generating device, as it is rather sensitive.

Mixtures of potassium nitrate and charcoal should just be called sulfurless black powder, in order to avoid confusion. (By means of: 'I rammed a rocket with cocoa powder' and the next day someone blows up because they made real cocoa powder and rammed it into a tube)