Recover, Recycle, and Reuse: Prove-Out of Pyrotechnic Illuminants Containing Demilitarized Magnesium

The development and prove‐out of yellow‐light‐emitting pyrotechnic illuminants based on recover, recycle, and reuse (R3) technology is described. Magnesium used in this investigation was recovered from four different illuminating pyrotechnic munitions by means of an environmentally friendly demilitarization process. Despite significant differences in the particle size and purity between the four lots of recovered magnesium, the performance of each lot—on evaluation in the M127A1 US Army yellow‐light‐emitting illuminant configuration—exceeded the military requirement and performance of the virgin magnesium‐containing control. All formulations were found to have low sensitivities to various ignition stimuli and possessed high thermal onset temperatures. In addition to the military significance, this demonstrated “green” pyrotechnics technology of using recycled magnesium in illuminating pyrotechnics may also be of interest to the civilian fireworks community. Reuse old news: Pyrotechnic illuminants containing recycled magnesium recovered from demilitarization of obsolete military pyrotechnic illuminators have been successfully proven‐out for military signaling (see picture), and are found to be insensitive to various ignition stimuli. The “green” technology of using recycled materials in illuminating pyrotechnics serves to benefit both the military and civilian fireworks communities.