70 replies to this topic

[Creepin_pyro]

Looks as though some of those powders would be perfect for glitter - did you notice the "Flitter for Pyrotechnic" section?
It has an interesting description of the uses for the different powders they supply.

[Richard H]

Given they have a dedicated market section focusing on aluminium flake powders for glitter and flitter I expect so .

[Andrew]

eckart make the well known dark pyro aluminium. I'd expect them to sell for pyrotechnic uses. We also use their flake Al in our fingerprints lab.

[Pretty green flames]

Finally i found what i was looking for.

(This isn't my work, this was copied from the APC forum and is from EP)
http://www.infernola...flittermine.mov

This is the effect i'm looking for.

Anyone have any idea what mesh size would be most suitable to use here


EDIT: Added a pic for those of you who can't view the movie.
Again this is from the same source as before and the same author

Edited by Pretty green flames, 15 April 2005 - 04:16 PM.

[Pretty green flames]

Someone please draw the line here.

I'm wondering if the Al-foil + Blender method produces acceptable results. Well does it???

Could one make 100mesh Al with this method

[Yugen-biki]

Very interesting!

I have made both twinkle and white comets useing atomizen Al. With <44?m and 80?m to campare.
I found that the smaller size worked better in twinkle, and produced a good effect. But the difference was not very big in the white comet (K-perchlorate + Al). Half of the Al was German black <45 ?m and the other half <44?m Al (atom) in one of the tests, and 80?m (atom) in the other.

But I had no idea that flake Al would make such a difference! I'll have to make my tests again as I have flake of different size at my dissposal.

If you are after a white twinkle, use you "blender Al" if you cant get eny thing else, and make a comp with Sb2S3 or one with Fe(III)O. Both will give a white effect. Small partickle size is of great importance.


PM me your e-mail Pretty green flames and i?ll send you pictures of the tests. The testa are coming up on my pyro page some time in the future.

Edited by Yugen-biki, 16 April 2005 - 04:16 PM.

[Andrew]

Someone please draw the line here.

I'm wondering if the Al-foil + Blender method produces acceptable results. Well does it???

Could one make 100mesh Al with this method

Very interseting results.

Blender and foil isn't the best way to make flitter, I've tried it before and it does not work very well, blenders work great with charcoal, but that is because it is brittle, Al is plastic. The best way I've found is to use a paper shreder (cross cut) and then ball mill it, grading the resultant product with seives.

[Pretty green flames]

One can make Al-foil brittle (atleast more brittle than normal one)
You must just roast it a bit on a fire so it becomes a bit dull in colour, but i don't know how it would perform in a composition becouse of the formation of Aluminium oxide on the surface

[fishy1]

while kind of off-topic, would atomised aluminium work in thermite?

[seymour]

Yes. I have never made it myself but I know a few people that have used plain old coarse filings and had success.

[RegimentalPyro]

I've used Tiranti Aluminium [atomised, 250 mesh] successfully in Thermite. About the only pyro use for it I can think of is to demonstrate redox reactions to "the yoof"

[ie: a good attention getting education practical]

Edited by BigG, 02 August 2005 - 08:14 AM.

[Pieman]

I have bought some aluminium powder from ebay.

View this

I am hopefully going to use this in a fountain to produce some white sparks but after reading this thread I was getting worried that the compisitions I'm intending to make are going to be a bit dangerous. Is it possible for near begginers to use aluminium safely in fountains (i have made a few blackpowder fountains with extra charcoal for more sparks)

If it is okay to use does anybody know any tried and tested compisitions? (I am going to search as well but the more ideas the better) thankyou.

[RegimentalPyro]

I shouldn't worry *too* much about this. The mesh size [250] is far too big for flash.

As long as you ram with Aluminium rammers, you shouldn't have any problems with sparking during construction.

Don't be suprised if your Aluminium fountain burns goldish as well as silver though. Pure silver is very hard to get in a choked Aluminium fountain....

[Creepin_pyro]

Heya guys, would XXXX be anygood for effects in fireworks? like, glitter, or flash, or whatever? how big is 5 micron?

5 microns is an extremely small particle size - 5 millionths of a meter.

This shouldn't really be listed on Ebay

Edit: took link out.

Edited by Creepin_pyro, 17 August 2005 - 11:23 AM.