ABSTRACT
This book is an introduction to the basic principles and theory of pyrotechnics. Much of the material is also applicable to the closely related areas of propellants and explosives. The term high-energy chemistry will be used to refer to all of these fields. Explosives rapidly release large amounts of energy, and explosives engineers take advantage of this energy and the associated shock and pressure to do work. Propellants are designed to burn quite rapidly under the confinement of a rocket engine or a gun barrel, but many propellants burn rather mildly in the open. They are formulated to maximize the volume of hot gas produced as the propellant rapidly burns. Pyrotechnic mixtures, in general, react more slowly, and the heat generated
by the burning chemical mixture is used to produce combinations of light, color, smoke, heat, and noise for a wide range of applications.
