Meal powder

Meal powder [1] is the fine dust left over when black powder (gunpowder) is corned and screened to separate it into different grain sizes. It is used extensively in various pyrotechnic procedures, usually to prime other compositions. It can also be used in many fireworks to add power and substantially increasing the height of the firework. It is also used in most firearm ammunition. The power has occasionally been used as a synonym for Serpentine powder, which it physically resembles. [2]

'Mill meal' powder is a mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur in the correct proportions (75% potassium nitrate:15% charcoal:10% sulfur) which has been ball-milled to mix it intimately. It is used in the same way as commercial meal powder or can be pressed and corned to produce true black powder.

To make meal powder or black powder, a chemist mixes the ingredients by mass, never by volume. These ingredients are processed in a ball mill, basically a spinning drum with non-sparking ceramic or lead balls. The more time left in the mill, the more "explosive" the powder will be. One main reason to ball mill as opposed to other methods is because it presses sulfur and KNO3 into the porous charcoal.

References
  1. Toby Bridges (1 January 1972). Black powder gun digest. Digest Books. ISBN 978-0-695-80360-5.
  2. K.L. Kosanke; Barry T. Sturman; Robert M. Winokur; B.J. Kosanke (October 2012). Encyclopedic Dictionary of Pyrotechnics: (and Related Subjects). Journal of Pyrotechnics. pp. 996–. ISBN 978-1-889526-21-8.
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