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PrimoPyro1990 .... Incendiaries .... DISCLAIMER: The following file contains information of harmful or illegal nature. Neither the BBS or author providing this information can be considered responsible for the use of this file. The person using this knowledge is solely responsible for it's use or misuse. This file is intended to educate only. Incendiaries are used to destroy all types of flammable substances. In add- ition incendiaries can be used to destroy metal structures or used on living targets as in the case of flame throwers. Incendiaries can be broken down into a few groups. These are petroleum based, metal alloys, thermites, metal-salt mixes, and exotics. The choice of incendiary depends on the target to be destroyed. The petroleum based incendiaries like napalm, use the oxygen from the air to keep combustion going. If the fire is smothered it will be extiguished. The petroleum can thickened (like napalm) or it can be a heavy oil (hard to ignite). Lighter types of petroleum (ligroin) are not the best to use as they evaporate quickly and the fumes tend to flash or explode instead of burning for a sustained time. Petroleum liquids burn at about 1000 deg. C. and release as much as 6 kcal/gm. They are usually used against wooden structures and other easily flammable things like people. Metal alloys such as magnesium alloys also use oxygen from the air to support combustion. In addition they can also use nitrogen from the air and still burn. If they are smothered they can reduce the smothering agent and still burn. A large amount of water or foam are best for fighting a magnesium fire. A small amount of water can give up its oxygen to the magnesium and release hydrogen gas. The result is a pretty good explosion. A magnesium alloy called "electron" was used during the second world war. This was made of about 90% magnesium, 8% aluminum, and the rest zinc and manganese. This alloy was strong and produced 2000 deg. C. and about 6 kcal per gram. This was used against wood or metal structures. Thermites are mixtures of an active metal and a less reactive metal oxide. The active metal reduces the less active metal oxide pulling off the oxygen and releasing a lot of heat and molten metal and metal oxide slag. Thermites are usually used to attack metal targets and are very effective in this role. A two or three pound charge can be placed on the hood of a auto and ignited. The thermite will burn through the hood and drip molten metal onto the engine. While this won't melt the engine it will warp or crack it plus it may sever gas lines which will start a secondary fire. Thermite formulas a varied but the standard mix is 25% aluminum powder, 75% iron scale (iron oxide). Thermites burn at about 2500 deg. C. Thermite is used almost exclusively against metal to weld it or melt it. Metal - Salt mixtures use a combustible metal and a salt oxidizer. They cannot be smothered or extinguished easily. To fight these fires the best tactic is to cover the device with sand or shoot them with a water jet. The jet will help break up the incendiary and wet any mixture that has not burnt. These mixtures are composed of oxidizers like potassium nitrate, metals like aluminum or magnesium, and fuels like sulfur, charcoal, or oils. These formulas produce a flame when burning unlike thermite and burn very quickly when compared with thermite. These mixes can be used in small caliber projectiles to make an incendiary shell. Usually the shock of the shell hit- ting the target sets off the incendiary. They burn at about 2000-3000 deg. C. Metal - Salt mixtures are usually used against easily flammable objects. Exotic incendiaries exist that ignite on exposure to air, release poisonous gases, or produce a second incendiary chemical. These incendiaries are used for special circumstances and targets. A Short Study of Arson An understanding of fires should be acquired if you want to use them to your best advantage. A study of the target should be made if possible. Find out what materials from the target can be used to start the fire. How long will it take the fire fighters to arrive? If the target is a building is there a sprinkler system installed? Fire and smoke alarms? Is the building wood framed or steel? A steel frame building can be destroyed if the temperature of the steel reaches 1000 deg. F. for 10 mins. This destroys the temper of the steel. Are the walls hollow? This can spread the fire from the bottom to the top of a two story house in about 1 min. A fire can be started in a corner of a room. This uses the walls to reflect heat into the room and also provides two walls for fuel. Use whatever materials are handy to help feed the fire. Make a trip to the library and look for books on fire fighting techniques and materials. Study these and learn what the fire fighters will use to stop your efforts. You can study chemical hazard lists to find incom- patible materials that can make an explosion or fire when combined. If a fire is started with good planning it makes little difference if its set with a book of matches and a cigarette fuse or an incendiary using high tech bells and whistles. An incendiary is more effective than an explosive in destroying some targets. Once an explosive goes off the damage is done but a fire builds until all the fuel is consumed. Here are a few characteristics of common flammable substances: Wood: Wood contains about 15-35% moisture. The less moisture the easier to ignite. At 110deg. C. wood dries, gases start liberating. 150deg. C. wood gives off more of these flammable gases. 230deg. C. wood begins to char. 300 deg. C. carbonization of the wood. Above 300deg. C wood begins to burn. Wood is a good insulator and can keep fire from spreading easily if it blocks radiant heat. Green wood ignites with difficulty. Paper: Paper along with grain products (hay and cereal grasses) ignite very easily if dry. If the paper is bundled up however, you will find it is hard to ignite. Petroleum products: The flammability of petroleum liquids are determined by their flashpoint. The lower the flashpoint the easier the liquid is to ignite. Those liquids with higher flashpoints may have to be heated before they are flammable. The minimum concentration of vapors to be flammable for common substances are ethyl alcohol-73, acetone-65, benzene-49, ethyl ether-39, gasoline-33 MG/L. At 0 deg. C. ethyl alcohol gives a concentration of 34 mg/l and is not flammable at that temperature. In contrast ethyl ether has a concentration of 780 mg/l at 0 deg. C. and is flammable. If you are trying to hide the fact that arson is the cause of the fire, try to use what is already on scene at the target. An electrical fire can be made by using a razor blade to slice into the insulation of a wire. If the wire is the stranded type pull out about 2/3 of the strands and cut them. A fire will start in that section of wire. If the wire is the solid type, file a section of wire to make it thinner. Arson investigators look for a hot spot in the ruins to find where the fire started. This hot spot is usually a section of target that is very charred. They especially examine the floor to see if it is charred. They look for char trails to see if the fire has been led to different sections of the target. A very fast spreading fire will be invest- igated as an arson job. They also use sniffers and gas chromotagraphy to look for traces of gasoline and other accelerators. An arsonist has to be on his toes to fool the investigators. Incendiary Devices and Formulas Incendiary Capsule: This device uses a pemanganate/glycerin reaction to make a short delay fire. Obtain a large gelatin capsule. Fill the larger side with potassium permanganate. Flatten a piece of plasticine to about 1/16" thick and press it over the permanganate to seal it into the capsule. Peel away the excess plasticine so the chemical is sealed in the capsule by a small disk of the putty. Fill the other side of the capsule about 1/2 full of glycerin. Take a small splinter of wood (toothpick) and place it in the glycerin. Now assemble the capsule but be careful not to press the ends of the capsule together very much. When you wish to use the capsule, simply press the ends of the capsule together. The splinter pierces the plasticine which allows the glycerin to contact the permanganate. The reaction starts a short time later and will ignite such things as paper or wood shavings. These devices cannot take much rough handling and usually have to be made near where they must be used. Spontaneous Combustion: Most people may have heard that you are not supposed to put oily rags in the garbage until they dry out because they may start a fire. This is because when oil drys it oxidizes and gives off a good deal of heat. This heat can build up in a closed container and ignite the rags. If you want to cause spontaneous combustion on purpose it is necessary to obtain oil dryers as these cause the oil to oxidize. Check out paint shops and see what they have to offer. You may wish to try drying oil which is a preparation of oil with premixed dryers. Dampen cotton, rags, wood pulp or the like with the oil and dryers. The combustible should not be dripping with the oil but it should be moist throughout. Make a 1" hole in the bottom of a styrofoam coffee cup and a 1" hole in the lid of the cup. Pack the cup with the oily combustible but leave a hole going through to the bottom hole. Do not pack the combustible too tightly in the cup. Put the lid on and lay the cup down on its side Or put the cup on something so that free air can reach the hole in the bottom of the cup. In as little as 1/2 hr. to as much as 4 hrs. later the cup will burst into flames if the oil is reactive enough. The time delay will depend on such things as ambient temperature or air movements. Phosphorous Delay: White phosphorous is a substance that ignites on exposure to air. You can dissolve it in carbon disulfide which gives you a liquid that can be poured on to paper or the like. As the disulfide evaporates, it leaves behind particles of phosphorous which will ignite the disulfide fumes and the paper. Since the disulfide evaporates fast you can add benzene or naptha to it to keep the evaporation down. One drawback to using this mix is the disulfide smells like sulfur which can give away its presence. Both the phosphorous and the carbon disulfide are extremely dangerous to handle. They should only be used after you are familiar with them. As a note, carbon disulfide fumes can be ignited by the heat of a 60 watt lightbulb. Handle with care. About a century ago, white phophorous (WP) was added to a glue called Chloral Du Pottage. This was a glue made from chloral hydrate. The resulting mixture was used to soak a piece of paper that was then placed into a glazed envelope and sealed. After the glue dries, if the envelope was opened it burst into a violent flame. These fire bombs remained active for about 24 hrs. after which the phosphorous was slowly oxidized and the bomb became inactive. The chloral glue formula may be found in an old library book called Richard's Book of Formulas (or something similar). Perhaps you can bring this device up to date by using an acrylic glue Fireflys: These are simple devices used to blow up a car. One consists of a large gelatin capsule that is half filled with calcium carbide while the other half contains a piece of sodium metal.(store these in a dry place, and not for very long ) 2 or 3 of these can be dropped into a automobile gasoline tank. Condensation causes water to form in the bottom of the tank. This water dissolves the gelatin which exposes the chemicals to the water. The carbide reacts with the water to form acetylene while the sodium starts a fire. The resulting explosion ruptures the gas tank and ignites the gasoline. Another form of firefly is made of a small cork float. This is weighted to keep one end up when floating. On this exposed end a small spiral of platinum wire is fixed. A small amount of cotton is placed inside the spiral. To use these, soak the cotton with gasoline just before dropping one in a gas tank. As the gas tank empties, air replaces the gas used. The air and gasoline fumes reach a level that causes the platinum to behave as a catalyst which ignites the air/gasoline mix. In trial, the platinum firefly has 50/50 success rate. Removing the cotton may increase the probability of an explosion at the risk of some danger when dropping the device into the tank. Note: Some gas tanks have a screen in the gasoline tank so you cannot drop anything into the tank until it is pierced. Also when using the sodium metal/ carbide firefly you may want to pour about 8 oz. of water into the tank after putting in the capsules. Instead of platinum wire, you may want to try using the element from a catalytic hand warmer. These are the hand warmers fueled with a lighter fluid type fuel. Also keep in mind that this device usually works as the car is being driven which will probably result in death. If you don't wish to kill someone, just use an icepick and poke a hole in the gas tank to empty it. Sodium Peroxide: This is a chemical that releases oxygen and heat on contact with water. A small amount of this chemical can be sprinkled on rags or paper which will ignite after a time if the humidity is high enough. Mixtures of this chemical and powdered metal should be avoided as spontaneous ignition may occur during mixing. Sausages: These where airdropped during the vietnam war. All they consist of is a liquid incendiary sealed into a heavy plastic bag. During the war a string of these were dropped from airplanes to ignite the target. The incen- diary used was Napalm B which is a plastic gel made by mixing polystyrene foam with gasoline. Sometimes sodium nitrate and sulfur was added to help the burning. A reasonable facsimile can be made up for the purpose of carry- ing a small incendiary device. The weight of the filling should be about 4oz. A standard blasting fuse can ignite these. Timed Gas Explosion: Obtain a butane lighter refill. These are the aluminum cylinders used to refill butane lighters. Use a paint remover on it to take off all of labeling. After the paint is removed, clean up the cylinder with some fine grit sandpaper. Now get a large glass jar. Bring these plus a bottle of sodium hydroxide (lye,drano) to your target. If the target has a gas water heater (or any appliance with a pilot light) this will be used to ignite the explosion. Otherwise you will need a candle (try a trick candle, one of the ones you can't blow out). Put the jar down next to the heater, and put the stripped cylinder in it. Fill up the jar with lye and leave quickly. The lye will eat the aluminum cylinder and release the gas in an explosion. the pilot light on the heater will ignite the butane and cause an explosion. This will take about 10 mins. depending on the strength of the lye. If you use a candle, set it away from the jar so when the gas first releases the flame does not blow out. Accelerant: As I said before, arson investigators will look for traces of an accelerant especially if the fire is fast spreading. The usual accelerant, gasoline, leaves traces that are easy to find. However, if you take sodium chlorate and dissolve about 150 gms. in 150 ml. of warm water you will make an accelerant that is hard to find. Soak the substance to be ignited with this liquid. When it dries the material will be highly flammable. Be careful as the material will be highly spark and friction sensitive. The chlorate, while not flammable in itself will give off oxygen when heated and make any organic material very flammable. When the material is burnt, the chlorate reduces to salt (NaCl, table salt). This is usually dissolved in the fire fighters water and is very rarely found, Even if it is found, They invest- igators will probably not make its connection to the fire. The chlorate treated material will also ignite if contact is made with sulfuric acid. This can be used to produce an acid-delay. Fill a rubber ballon with about an ounce of sulfuric acid and tie off the ballon. Place this ballon on the treated substance. When the acid eats through the ballon the material will ignite. Make sure the ballon has no holes in it. Napalm: Napalm is simply thickened gasoline. It burns longer than gasoline and is not as explosive as gas. A simple napalm is made by adding two con- centrated solutions together. One is a solution of soap (not detergent), the other solution is aluminum sulfate (alum). A precipitate results when the solutions are mixed. This precipitate is filtered out and dried. This powder is usually added to gasoline in about 5 - 15% strength. Another type of napalm is made by melting parafin wax and pouring it into gasoline. When the gas cools it will thicken up. A form of solid gasoline is made with polyvinyl alcohol and formaldehyde as the thickener. A thin napalm is used for flamethrowers. Another mix for flamethrowers is 25% kerosene, 50% heavy oil, and 25% gasoline. The fuel for flamethrowers should not burn up in the travel to the target but rather on the target. Goop: Goop is an attempt to get the best of napalm and metal incendiaries in one mixture. It is made in two parts. Part 1 Magnesium Powder 40% Asphalt 20% Heavy Oil 20% Gasoline 20% Part 2 Aluminum Powder 20% Iron oxide 40% Potassium Nitrate 30% Sulfur 10% This is mixed by taking 50% by volume of part 2 and mixing it well with part 1. This is easily ignited and produces a large flame plus a lot of heat. It cannot be extinguished by normal means and is effective on both wood and metal. In Afganistan, the Russians were reported to air drop an incendiary "goop" that was stable until disturbed (stepped on). Then the incendiary burst into flames. This is very likely a WP mixture along with oxidizers and a tar-like substance that also kept the WP and the oxidizers from reacting with each other. How it was kept stable in storage is unknown. Thermite: One of the best known incendiaries is thermite. The thermite reac- tion was used originally to produce super pure metals but was adapted to war uses. The most common formula for thermite is 25% coarse aluminum, 75% iron oxide. It is difficult to ignite but once burning it is almost imposs- ible to put out. For more information on thermite see my file Thermite.txt on the HOTLINE BBS. Thermite Incendiaries: These mixtures use additional chemicals that help thermite ignite easier, produce a flame, or increase the heat liberated by the thermite reaction. The thermite makes up 50% - 80% of the mixture. FORMULA 1 Barium Nitrate 25% Iron Oxide 50% Aluminum 25% FORMULA 2 Barium Nitrate 45% Iron Oxide 25% Aluminum 15% Magnesium 15% Metal - Salt: These mixtures are almost used exclusively to load a projectile to make it explode into a ball of flame and sparks upon impact. These are used against gas tanks and the like. They must be insensitive enough so the setback forces of firing the projectile does not ignite the incendiary. Yet they must be sensitive enough to ignite when they hit the target. Some typical mixtures are: FORMULA 1 Potassium Perchlorate 50% Magnesium 25% Aluminum 25% FORMULA 2 Potassium Nitrate 50% Potassium Perchlorate 15% Aluminum 25% Charcoal 10% The above two formulas are more suitable for incendiary projectiles. They explode more than burn and the flash from the explosion ignites the target. Metal-Salt mixtures that burn slower and are more suitable for an incendiary charge usually include oil or a wax plus sulfur to slow down the burning. The following formulas are examples. FORMULA 1 Potassium Nitrate 60% Light Oil 20% Aluminum Powder 10% Sulfur 5% Charcoal 5% FORMULA 2 Potassium Nitrate 55% Paraffin Wax 20% Iron Oxide 10% Aluminum Powder 10% Sulfur 5% Exotic Incendiaries: Some exotic incendiaries are pyrophoric metals, phoph- orous/sulfur mixtures, alkyl-alkali metal derivatives, and boron compounds. Since the use of these incendiaries require more knowledge than can be gained by simply reading a few pages on incendiaries, only a quick review will be given. Pyrophoric metals are metal powders that are barren of any oxide coating and are of such small dimensions that they catch fire on exposure to air. An example is made by heating lead tartate (made by adding tartaric acid to lead acetate) in a test tube. While you can still smell the tarlike fumes coming off, cork the tube. Throw the tube and break it or just open up the test tube and the lead will burst into sparks. Pyrophoric metals are made in an inert atmosphere to stop oxidation of the metal. Phosphorous/Sulfur mixtures form an alloy that is liquid at normal temper- atures. The usual percentages are 75% white phosphorous and 25% sulfur. This compound ignites spontaneously in the air and gives some nasty burns plus releases large amounts of noxious sulfur dioxide fumes when burning. Dimethyl sodium is a liquid that is also spontaneously ignites in the air. Alkyl metal derivatives are poisonous to handle Boron is a high energy metal. Compounds of boron release very great amounts of heat when burning. Unfortunately, these compounds are also very poisonous and this has limited research in their use. Before making incendiaries, find out the properties of the chemicals you are using. Be especially careful of white phosphorous. WP has the ability to literally burn its way through your body. To get it out of say your arm, turn your arm upside down so the WP burns back through the hole it made going in. The burns are very slow to heal and WP is poisonous and destroys the liver and bones. Safety equipment should be used when making these devices and mixtures. Invest in a good face shield, leather gloves and aprons will protect against flash burns. A leather skull cap will help protect your hair. These and other equipment may save you from injury or death. Remember, it is your responsibility if you try using any of this information. *** Kilroy was here ***