Al for color stars

[schroedinger]

Hi

 

Which type of Al is better for color stars?

Flake or atomized and what is the best mesh for each one?

[Livingston]

Al is used in glitter and flitter formulas not color!

[MrB]

I'm not sure i agree. It should be noted that i haven't tried these compositions:

 

Brilliant white star
44.4 Potassium perchlorate
44.4 Aluminium (dust)
11.2 Dextrin

Baechle amber #2
58 Potassium perchlorate
25 Barium nitrate
25 Strontium nitrate
15 Aluminium
4 Lampblack
4 Sodium benzoate
18 Parlon
4 Red gum

Golden chrysanthemum
40 Potassium nitrate
30 Aluminium (coarse flake)
10 Sulfur
10 Realgar
2 Charcoal (Hemp or Pauownia)
1 Boric acid
7 SGRS

Green star #5
65 Barium nitrate
10 Aluminium (very fine)
20 Parlon
4 Sulfur
2 Boric acid

 

Lancaster Red #2
70 Potassium perchlorate
12 Strontium carbonate
6 Red gum
6 Aluminium (bright)
6 Aluminium (flitter 80/30)

Actually, the list is quite long, i just nabbed a few here and there. And copy / pasted them from here.

 

Anyway, nobody can answer on what kind is better, since it depends on the use. Some compositions call for fine flake, others the atomized stuff. Trial and error i'm afraid, unless it's specifyed in the composition details.

B!

Edited December 6, 2014 by MrB

[Carbon796]

I've made the emerald green that is listed on skylighter's website. Which may be the same as green star #5 listed above. The formula looks familiar. I used dark aluminum for it.

[rogeryermaw]

i know the green rubber stars from the skylighter chart didn't work with aluminum. i tried that and got yellow. switching to mgal 50/50 worked quite well.

 

before:

http://youtu.be/Ct4Voou4Vvo

after:

http://youtu.be/UUeUh6JTH90

[Mumbles]

For colored stars you basically will want to always use flake. The finer the better generally. I've always used -325 mesh flake, and had good results. I personally like MgAl better, but both will work in the right formulas.

[schroedinger]

For colored stars you basically will want to always use flake. The finer the better generally. I've always used -325 mesh flake, and had good results. I personally like MgAl better, but both will work in the right formulas.

Thank you thats good to know. Since i just recently got acces to good flake al. Always used atomized one.

[Mumbles]

It doesn't really need to be all that good. I normally just used whatever bright flake Al I had around. Sometimes if things are a little slaggy or not going quite right, you can use a small portion of dark flake (flash grade) aluminum to get it to work better.

[taiwanluthiers]

I used dark al and it does work for color, even green. However Dark al is quite reactive, and when I wetted it the star had a rotten egg smell. MgAl doesn't usually cause this.

[schroedinger]

Well the good al meant more the right mesh size then the real quality. Got -500 mesh now. Before that i only got 30 to 50 mesh firefly.

[Sparx88]

I have been using nothing but different sized flake alum and it works great so far. I use the dark/super stuff for a brightener and sensitizer and the larger 50-100 for sparks and short tail. Firefly for longer tails and twinkles. I use these in some fashion in every color. Soon I will have magnal and will see what happens but flake alum is good. I use the eckart 5413 3 micron super turbo ultra and have no issues with heating up or bad smells when wetting comps. Only comps with nitrates get the boric acid calm down wo' nelly treatment when mixed with 5413. More as a precaution . Better safe than sorry sort of thing.

[AdmiralDonSnider]

Dark aluminum seems to be superior to MgAl in some colors. Joel Baechle did a great deal of investigation about that in his pyrocolor harmony script. A friend of mine did some tests based on it, side by side comparisions of color formulas made with MgAl or Al respectively, and you definitely did notice the difference.

[schroedinger]

Ok i really imagine the dark al beeing superior only used GD once for some green stars they where really nice. But it is too expensive for continuos use.

I would imagine that this happens because of the big surface and high energie thats set during combustion of al. These two factors together will propably raise the flame temperature quite high compared to the most time rather "coarse" al (compared too GD).

[nt8]

The dark aluminium is good for green: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuf3j4iYLkw

 

I bound it with parlon/aceton, so no problem with wet.

[Zmuro]

That's really nice green. Can you share the composition, since I don't have passfire account.

[nt8]

That's really nice green. Can you share the composition, since I don't have passfire account.

Barium Nitrate 63

Parlon 16

Aluminum, flake, dark, American dark. -325 mesh 12

Sulfur 7

Dextrin 5

Red Gum 2

 

I made with black Al from p.garage and without dextrin.

 

I see, MrB shared a similar comp.

Edited December 8, 2014 by nt8

[nt8]

I see, MrB shared a similar comp.

Edited December 8, 2014 by nt8