Curious how sensitive various formulations are to heat, so I rigged up a platform outside supporting a 1/4" steel plate over a propane torch. I put a small sample of KClO4/Al flash powder on the plate and let it warm up. I was taking its temperature with an infrared thermometer and was surprised to see it topped out at 800F with no ignition! I'll buy a MAPP cylinder to see if I can get it hotter.

I know the flash goes with a pyro match but I don't know how hot those burn. I also know I can ignite it with NiCr wire, but the melting point for NiCr is 2500F so that leaves a very broad range!

Please comment if you have:

* Any other tricks for testing ignition or explosion temperatures using amateur equipment.

* Figures on ignition or burn temperatures of pyro/explosive compounds.

Try covering the mixture with some insulation, to keep the heat retained within the mix, rather than radiating off.

Of course, than you can't use an IR thermometer....got a thermocouple?

I don't really know any "tricks" but I do know that design of the test can be a tough thing to develop. Heat and direct stimulation via open flame are two differing stimulus. As you know flames may be composed of differing fuels resulting in differing temps but the flame itself is a differing stimulus than heat radiated directly (or indirectly) upon a substance.

Testing is not an easy thing to set up without some thought to the design of the stimulus. Impact testing may contain friction in it's design, etc.

I imagined that would be the case; at this point I'll limit myself to non-reactive (i.e., not burning) heat sources.

Can heating elements ever catalyze ignition at a temperature lower than pure radiation/conduction would? E.g., could immersing a NiCr or other metal wire in the compound and heating it from that give different results than some theoretically inert heat source in contact with the compound?

Or can I safely ignore such "catalytic" effects if we're talking about pyro compounds and metallic heaters?

Superficially (I am NOT a research scientist) it seems the Nichrome wire method of heat testing would seem ideal. Same length, same level of current/voltage, time during and time of heat transmission, etc. But to address most of these questions, I would find a guy who did a chem thesis & have a chat. I'll bet I'm missing something.