Photoflash Mixtures
To produce a burst of light of short duration, a composition is required that will react very rapidly. Fine particle sizes are used for the oxidizer and fuel to increase reactivity, but sensitivity is also enhanced at the same time. Therefore, these mixtures are quite hazardous to prepare, and mixing operations should always be carried out remotely. Several representative photoflash mixtures are given in Table 1.
TABLE 1. Photoflash Mixtures
An innovation in military photoflash technology was the development of devices containing fine metal powders without any oxidizer. A high-explosive bursting charge is used instead. This charge, upon ignition, scatters the metal particles at high temperature and they are then air-oxidized to produce light emission. No hazardous mixing of oxidizer and fuel is required to prepare these illuminating devices.