Green is the new black: an environmentally benign black smoke fulfilling the concept of fuel mixes

摘要

The concept of fuel mixes, which was established to generate multi-colored smoke signals with the colors red, violet, yellow and green, was extended by an additional black color impression. The underlying pyrotechnical system is based on commercially available potassium chlorate, 5-amino-1H-tetrazole and a magnesium carbonate derivative. In contrast to further naphthalene-based smoke mixtures, the black color was produced by mixing a green and red smoke dye (Solvent Green 3/Disperse Red 9) as a much greener alternative. By using the same dyes as for red and green smoke, it was possible to apply a consistent pyrotechnical system with known performance. Standard methods of characterizing smokes according to their burning behavior, yield and energetic properties were used to estimate the effectiveness. Further, the new black-smoking compositions were compared to the already existing multi-colored smoke formulations.