Illumination compositions, illumination flares including the illumination compositions, and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9365465-B2
Application number	US-201414218547-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 18, 2014
Priority date	Mar 18, 2014
Publication date	Jun 14, 2016
Grant date	Jun 14, 2016

Abstract

An illumination composition comprising at least one oxidizer, at least one of a fuel and a binder, and at least one combustion rate modifier. The at least one oxidizer is selected from the group consisting of a potassium-containing oxidizer and a rubidium-containing oxidizer, the at least one oxidizer present in the illumination composition at from about 50 wt % to about 70 wt % and comprising particles each independently having a size within a range of from about 25 μm to about 325 μm. Additional illumination compositions, illumination flares, and methods of illuminating a target are also disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An illumination composition, comprising:
at least one oxidizer selected from the group consisting of a potassium-containing oxidizer and a rubidium-containing oxidizer, the at least one oxidizer present in the illumination composition at from about 50 percent by weight to about 70 percent by weight and comprising:
larger particles each independently having a particle size within a range of from about 275 μm to about 325 μm, the larger particles present in the illumination composition at from about 35 wt % to about 55 wt %; and
smaller particles each independently having a particle size within a range of from about 25 μm to about 35 μm, the smaller particles present in the illumination composition at from about 15 wt % to about 30 wt %;

at least one of a fuel and a binder; and
at least one combustion rate modifier.

2. The illumination composition of claim 1 , wherein the larger particles and the smaller particles comprise different oxidizers than one another.

3. The illumination composition of claim 1 , wherein the at least one oxidizer is KNO 3 .

4. The illumination composition of claim 1 , further comprising at least one cesium-containing oxidizer.

5. The illumination composition of claim 4 , wherein the cesium-containing oxidizer is present in the illumination composition at less than or equal to about 5 wt %.

6. The illumination composition of claim 5 , wherein the cesium-containing oxidizer comprises CsNO 3 particles each independently having a size within a range of from about 40 μm to about 65 μm.

7. The illumination composition of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of a fuel and a binder comprises elemental silicon particles present in the illumination composition at from about 4 wt % to about 20 wt %, the elemental silicon particles each independently having a size within a range of from about 5 μm to about 15 μm.

8. The illumination composition of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of a fuel and a binder comprises the fuel and the binder, the fuel present in the illumination composition at from about 4 wt % to about 20 wt %, and the binder present in the illumination composition at from about 1 wt % to about 50 wt %.

9. The illumination composition of claim 1 , wherein the at least one combustion rate modifier is selected from the group consisting of amorphous boron and a high surface area metal oxide.

10. The illumination composition of claim 1 , wherein the at least one combustion rate modifier comprises at least one of a high surface area iron oxide and a high surface area aluminum oxide.

11. The illumination composition of claim 1 , wherein the at least one combustion rate modifier comprises amorphous boron and a high surface area iron oxide, the amorphous boron present in the illumination composition at from about 2 wt % to about 5 wt %, and the high surface area iron oxide present in the illumination composition at from about 0.5 wt % to about 1 wt %.

12. An illumination composition, comprising:
at least one oxidizer selected from the group consisting of a potassium-containing oxidizer, a rubidium-containing oxidizer, and a cesium-containing oxidizer and comprising:
larger particles each independently having a particle size within a range of from about 275 μm to about 325 μm, the larger particles present in the illumination composition at from about 35 wt % to about 55 wt %; and
smaller particles each independently having a particle size within a range of from about 25 μm to about 35 μm, the smaller particles present in the illumination composition at from about 15 wt % to about 30 wt %;

at least one of a fuel and a binder; and
at least one metal oxide exhibiting a specific surface area of greater than or equal to about 90 m 2 /g.

13. The illumination composition of claim 12 , wherein the at least one oxidizer comprises at least one of CsNO 3 , CsClO 3 , CsClO 4 , Cs 2 O 2 , KNO 3 , KClO 3 , KClO 4 , K 2 O 2 , RbNO 3 , RbClO 3 , RbClO 4 , and Rb 2 O 2 .

14. The illumination composition of claim 12 , wherein the at least one oxidizer comprises KNO 3 and CsNO 3 , the KNO 3 present in the illumination composition at from about 50 wt % to about 70 wt %, and the CsNO 3 present in the illumination composition at less than or equal to about 5 wt %.

15. The illumination composition of claim 12 , wherein the at least one metal oxide comprises at least one of an iron oxide and an aluminum oxide.

16. The illumination composition of claim 12 , wherein the at least one metal oxide comprises an iron oxide exhibiting a specific surface area of greater than or equal to about 93 m 2 /g.

17. The illumination composition of claim 12 , wherein the at least one metal oxide comprises an iron oxide present in the illumination composition at less than or equal to about 0.25 wt %.

18. The illumination composition of claim 12 , further comprising a boron material comprising from about 85 wt % amorphous boron to about 100 wt % amorphous boron, the amorphous boron present in the illumination composition at from about 0.5 wt % to about 10 wt %.

19. An illumination flare, comprising:
a casing; and
an illumination composition contained within the casing and comprising:
at least one oxidizer selected from the group consisting of a potassium-containing oxidizer and a rubidium-containing oxidizer, the at least one oxidizer present in the illumination composition at from about 50 percent by weight to about 70 percent by weight and comprising:
larger particles each independently having a particle size within a range of from about 275 μm to about 325 μm, the larger particles present in the illumination composition at from about 35 wt % to about 55 wt %; and
smaller particles each independently having a particle size within a range of from about 25 μm to about 35 μm, the smaller particles present in the illumination composition at from about 15 wt % to about 30 wt %;

at least one of a fuel and a binder; and
at least one combustion rate modifier.

20. The illumination flare of claim 19 , wherein the at least one oxidizer comprises the potassium-containing oxidizer, the potassium-containing oxidizer present in the illumination composition at from about 45 wt % to about 65 wt %.

21. The illumination flare of claim 20 , further comprising at least one cesium-containing oxidizer, the cesium-containing oxidizer present in the illumination composition at from about 1 wt % to about 5 wt %.

22. The illumination flare of claim 19 , wherein the at least one combustion rate modifier comprises a high surface area metal oxide, the high surface area metal oxide present in the illumination composition at from about 0.25 wt % to about 2.0 wt %.

23. The illumination flare of claim 19 , wherein the at least one of a fuel and a binder comprises elemental silicon, a ratio of the elemental silicon to the at least one oxidizer within a range of from about 1.4 to about 2.0.

24. A method of illumining a target, comprising:
deploying an illumination flare comprising a casing and an illumination composition contained within the casing, the illumination composition comprising:
at least one oxidizer selected from the group consisting of a potassium-containing oxidizer and a rubidium-containing oxidizer, the at least one oxidizer present in the illumination composition at from about 50 percent by weight to about 70 percent by weight and comprising:
larger particles each independently having a particle size within a range of from about 275 μm to ab

Assignees

• Orbital Atk Inc

Inventors

• Nielson Daniel B
• Duke Royce C
• Fielding Curtis W

Classifications

• C06B45/02 Primary

  comprising particles of diverse size or shape · CPC title

• C06C15/00

  Pyrophoric compositions; Flints (chemical lighters C06C9/00) · CPC title

• C06B33/00

  Compositions containing particulate metal, alloy, boron, silicon, selenium or tellurium with at least one oxygen supplying material which is either a metal oxide or a salt, organic or inorganic, capable of yielding a metal oxide · CPC title

• C06B23/007

  Ballistic modifiers, burning rate catalysts, burning rate depressing agents, e.g. for gas generating · CPC title

• C06B31/02

  the salt being an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal nitrate · CPC title