Ti vs AL, trailing sparks question

[braddsn]

I have not experimented much with this, so I thought I would post a question about it. We add 5-10% Ti to any color comp to add some nice trailing sparks. Could we not do the same with the same mesh aluminum and get super-bright white sparks? I know that if we add too much aluminum, we would need to increase the burn temp, probably by increasing percentage of perc... but if you added 5% aluminum to any color comp, wouldn't you get bright white sparks?

[Seymour]

Titanium seems really easy to light and burn quite fast compared to Aluminium, so I think you would need a finer mesh of Al than Ti. Yes this works, but not with all compositions. Most colours should work, and cooler temp compositions will have more yellow sparks than the whiter ones from high temp stars.

 

I'm not sure of the mesh size of the Aluminium I've used, but it was atomised and about the fineness of caster sugar. I'm sure larger diameter flakes would work great too.

[Sparx88]

I use large flake or Alcoa 120. Anything finer just makes the star brighter with a short tail.

[ExplosiveCoek]

Yes, my colors were not so good after adding aluminium powder to them. Especially green (Spanish) seemed to go bad quite a lot after the addition of aluminium. I got somewhat yellow sparks too, not really what I was after.

 

Fuchsia Spanish with additional al (think it was 5-10%), it's the second shell (first one was with Ti+FeTi):

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Edcg_3Odw

[dynomike1]

I liked the second one a lot better. Were those crackle stares?

Edited August 1, 2016 by dynomike1

[braddsn]

Thanks guys, that's the info I was looking for. Thanks for the videos Coek!

[ExplosiveCoek]

You're welcome, braddsn !

 

Dynomike1, I fixed the stars of the first one too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_tLD8pp0MQ. Same prime finishing as the second shell had.

Yes the second one had home made crackle star cores + spanish glitter with ti delay on them. We made egg's first bismuth based. However, these were based on lead. Also compo from Spanish doc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzwCuOL9m1w this was at a pyro meeting with a friend of mine and shows how they were made.

We rolled them on steel blasting grit. Now I'd suggest grating through a small sieve in star roller with extra comp to roll them smooth and dense.

[Merlin]

I am looking to add tails to my stars. Wouldn't say 5% ferro-titanium work and be a little cheaper?

[braddsn]

Yep. It works perfectly. Ferro-Ti for an orange-ish spark, and straight Ti for a whiter spark. 3-5% is good.