Castable Illumination Flares.

Two oxygen enriched binder systems were used to prepare cast illumination flares. An inorganic salt, magnesium perchlorate, was dissolved in a polymerizable binder system of mixed butylacrylate and acrylonitrile. The luminosity obtained in castings 4.25 inch diameter approached an average intensity of 2 million cp. The second system utilized triethylene glycoldinitrate in a binder system of Dynamar HX 736, a prepolymer with a 30 oxygen content, with Dynamar HX 740 curing agent. Limited data indicate that a luminosity intensity of 2 million cp is attainable. When 7.25 inch diameter candles of both types were made fragmentation occurred during static firing and large pieces were ejected from the flare case. The maximum practical diameter and optimum performance have not been determined.