# Thermate
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{{Short description|Incendiary pyrotechnic composition}}
{{Distinguish|thermite}}
{{ more citations needed | date=February 2025 }}
'''Thermate''' is a variation of [thermite](/source/thermite) and is an [incendiary](/source/incendiary_ammunition) [pyrotechnic composition](/source/pyrotechnic_composition) that can generate short bursts of very high temperatures focused on a small area for a short period of time. It is used primarily in [incendiary grenades](/source/Grenade).
The main chemical reaction in thermate is the same as in thermite: an [aluminothermic reaction](/source/aluminothermic_reaction) between powdered [aluminium](/source/aluminium) and a [metal oxide](/source/metal_oxide). Thermate can also utilize magnesium or other similar elements in place of aluminium. In addition to thermite, thermate sometimes contains [sulfur](/source/sulfur) and sometimes [barium nitrate](/source/barium_nitrate), both of which increase its thermal effect, create [flame](/source/flame) in burning, and significantly reduce the ignition temperature.[{{cite patent|country=US|number=6766744|pubdate=2004-07-27|title=Incendiary device|assign1=[Secretary of the United States Army](/source/Secretary_of_the_United_States_Army)|inventor1-last=Song|inventor1-first=Eugene|inventor2-last=Tracy|inventor2-first=Gene V.}}] Various mixtures of these compounds can be called thermate, but to avoid confusion with thermate-TH3, one can refer to them as thermite variants or analogs. The composition by weight of '''Thermate-TH3''' (in military use) is 68.7% thermite, 29.0% barium nitrate, 2.0% sulfur and 0.3% [binder](/source/Binder_(material)) (such as [polybutadiene acrylonitrile](/source/polybutadiene_acrylonitrile) (PBAN)).[{{cite patent
| inventor-last = Song
| inventor-first = Eugene
| publication-date = 1997
| title = Thermite destructive device
| country-code = US
| patent-number = 5698812A
|url = https://patents.google.com/patent/US5698812A/en?oq=US5698812A
|assign1 = [United States Department of the Army](/source/United_States_Department_of_the_Army)}}] As both thermite and thermate are notoriously difficult to ignite, initiating the reaction normally requires supervision and sometimes persistent effort.
Because thermate burns at higher temperatures than ordinary thermite,