Consumers Guide to Military Pyrotechnics

Pyrotechnic means explosive-actuated and refers especially to devices in which explosives are burned rather than detonated.

The field of pyrotechnics which was limited to applications in military ordnance, fireworks and rock blasting has been developed to a widely used technology over the past twenty years. Nowadays, pyrotechnic supplies are extensively found in spacecraft, aircraft and underwater vehicle systems. The devices also perform critical functions in rocket flight by controlled use of explosive power such as ignition of rocket motors, separation of spent stages, heat shield separation, satellite separation, solar panel & boom deployment and operation of flow control valves of the propulsion systems in rockets as well as satellites.

They are ultimately used in applications where space is limited and low weight is a major requirement. Many space missions such as escape tower release, stage separation, fairing release, recovery systems, location aids, and more would be impossible without aerospace military pyrotechnics.

The important advantages of pyrotechnic supplies are:

• High power-to-weight ratio
• High Reliability
• High density
• Convenient size and shape to facilitate packaging, shipping and handling
• Low operating current
• Simple circuit requirement
• Delivers more energy in a shorter time and
• Low cost
• Response time is very quick

Apart from the above, a few pyrotechnic devices have the ability to provide time delays by placing elements with fixed burning times between sections of fuse. All good things obviously have few disadvantages, and the cons of pyrotechnic devices are: It is a single shot device and no functional check is possible before flight, pyrotechnic shock can cause damage to other systems and possibility of inadvertent firing.

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