Pyrotechnic Pilot Manufacturing Facility

his facility is used to manufacture small scale batches of pyrotechnic formulations and end items in a small scale manufacturing environment. New and novel pyrotechnic formulations and designs are manufactured in this facility and then transferred to the Pyrotechnic Laboratory for integration and testing. This facility is also used as an initial assessment for producibility engineering on the new pyrotechnic formulations and designs.

This facility, in conjunction with the Pyrotechnic Laboratory, encompasses the entire range of R&D related to pyrotechnic formulations and items including both processing and testing capabilities. Processing is done at the small pilot plant level and includes mixing, granulation and drying of pyrotechnic composition and consolidation and loading of powder into items. Test capabilities access the thermodynamic, kinetic, physical and storage stability characteristics of pyrotechnic compositions using assorted equipment. In addition, a flare tunnel with the most current equipment and instrumentation is used to measure the burn time, radiometric, photometric and spectral characteristics of a wide range of pyrotechnic items. This facility can provide quick development of novel pyrotechnic items and transition to production.