Rocket Oxidizer: Potassium Perchlorate ( KClO4 ) [ENG]

 

1. Potassium perchlorate is a less commonly used oxidizer in amateur rocketry; however, propellants that use it are very energy-dense.  It has been successfully used as a substitute for potassium nitrate with common asphalt fuel to make JATO booster rockets for the NAVY beginning in 1942. KClO4 is also used in some basic whistle mix formulas, usually with sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate.

 

2. Advantages:

 • High oxygen yield, 46%

 • Fast burn rate

 • Stable with sulfur

3. Disadvantages:

 • Low gas producer

 • High smoke content

 • Increasingly harder to purchase

4. Cautions:

Finely powdered potassium perchlorate can pose an extreme flash powder explosion hazard when combined with a high mesh magnesium powder magnalium powder or aluminum powder fuel.  Homogeneous mixtures of a very high mesh are known to rapidly deflagrate.

5. Other Uses:

KClO4 is used in many flash powder compositions due to its abundance of oxygen, and relative stability compared to potassium chlorate (KClO3).