Iranian Scientific Association of Energetic Materials

Abstract Aerosolization of tear agents using pyrotechnic formulation containing fuel, oxidant, coolant and binder was investigated. In this study, various tablets including different amounts of potassium chlorate (as oxidizer), lactose or sucrose (as fuel), silica and aluminium oxide (as coolant), nitrocellulose, castor oil and ethyl acetate mixture (as binding system) together with terphtalic acid (as effective agent) were prepared. The optimized formulation was chosen regarding to the various parameters such as time, temperature, and ignition procedure and then CR was used as tear agent in the optimized formulation. Gas chromatography (GC) and thermal analysis (TG/DTA) techniques were used to determine the quality of aerosolization. The results showed that the time of ignition and efficiency of aerosol production by pyrotechnic formulation containing lactose is higher than using sucrose as fuel. TG thermal analysis showed that mass reduction in the formulations with each of the two types of fuel in temperature range of 125-180 ºC was related to evaporation of CR. Finally, CR aerosolization with the efficiency of 45% and 85% were obtained with sucrose and lactose as fuel, respectively.