Effect of Oxidant and Fuel Contents on the Performance of Infrared Illuminating Composition

To investigate the effects of oxidant and fuel contents on the performance of infrared illuminating compositions, three formulations of contents have been tested using optical performance test device. The visible light intensity and infrared radiation of infrared illuminator with three formulations were measured. The results show that: for oxidants, the infrared radiation output per gram of KNO₃ is the maximum, which reaches to 26.00W·s/(sr·g), but its burning rate(1.38mm/s) is low, while CsNO₃ can overcome such a shortcoming. Therefore the combination of 35% KNO₃ and 35% CsNO₃ is the best oxidant. The illuminator with this formulation has the measured performance as that the output of visible light per gram is 98.04cd·s/g, the infrared radiation output per gram is 16.55W·s/(sr·g), the index is 0.169 and the burning rate is 2.73mm/s. For the fuels, the two formulas containing 5% Mg and Ti have low burning rate of 3.76mm/s and 3.74mm/s, respectively. Nevertheless, Si and B could benefit to the output of visible light and infrared radiation per gram. The output of visible light is increased by 9.07% and the infrared radiation is increased by 20.88%.