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Posted
I love coarse mgal in glitters. I have a favorite formula, but not a very representative video. For what it's worth, this would probably make a pretty nice white or silver glitter with potassium nitrate.
Posted

I am looking for a white or silver glitter with a tail.

Posted

Doesn't anyone find it kinda strange that this tiger tail composition, subbed with NaNO3, now suddenly turns into a glitter?

I added quite some metals to tiger tail, mostly titanium and aluminium, but never got this effect.

 

Quite interesting that coarse MgAl gives these properties.

Posted

Doesn't anyone find it kinda strange that this tiger tail composition, subbed with NaNO3, now suddenly turns into a glitter?

I added quite some metals to tiger tail, mostly titanium and aluminium, but never got this effect.

 

Quite interesting that coarse MgAl gives these properties.

 

I don't know if I would consider this a true glitter in the sense that Winokur, Oglesby, and Shimizu tend to describe it. Though the actual glitter phenomenon is not entirely understood. I'd consider it more closely related to a brocade, but that's just me. Try adding coarse MgAl to tiger tail and you'll see this same effect. There's nothing special about the sodium nitrate. It may resemble a glitter, but it's probably better described as a streamer with delayed ignition of coarse MgAl, which appears to glitter or flash on it's own to some extent. Titanium and coarse flake Al can show this same effect. Check out some of the brocade type formulas and you can find the same effect. I played around developing brocades for a while only to basically reinvent a variant of Chrysanthemum 8 + Ti and Al, and it gives a similar, very pronounced white version of this effect. Coarse components like charcoal or kinda poorly ground oxidizer can really enhance this phenomenon for some reason.

  • Like 1
Posted

I've been looking on PF and elsewhere and have found several glitter comps varying only from charcoal comps by the inclusion of sodium either in nitrate or oxalate form.

I don't know what works best but I like that glitter.

  • 2 months later...
Posted

Pirotex, your sodium nitrate glitter is getting a lot of attention online, congratulations! I remember your sweet dreams rocket, also sodium nitrate-based. Could you tell us how you prime the stars? Many of us wonder how you deal with the hygroscopic nature of sodium nitrate. Any detail on that would be grateful received- and thanks.

Posted (edited)

DavidF, I don't use prime for that glitter.

For sunrise yellow 75/15/10 +5% magnalum + 5% dextrin

Edited by Pirotex
Posted

OM, I saw you mention buying more silica gel.

 

FYI you can buy it from craft stores in 4 or 5 lb bags with indicator that is used to dry flowers. If you go to Michael's they basically always have a 40% off one item and I think Hobby Lobby has similar or will accept Michael's coupon. I think it's about $12 before any discount last time I bought some.

  • Like 1
  • 2 months later...
Posted

Pirotex, I am finally ready to try this glitter. I have dried, milled sodium nitrate, ready to go. But my screens only allow me to have the magnalium between 40 mesh and 60 mesh. Close enough? I plan to pump with 25% alcohol in water. Any suggestions on star size for a 4" canister shell? Thanks,

Dave

Posted

40 mesh and 60 mesh - Suitable size

Star size for 4 inch shell 12-15 mm

Posted

Thanks for the fast reply! I'll make them tomorrow.

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

Well, here's my report back on this comp. I put a weighed amount of ground, dried sodium nitrate in a pyrex bowl and measured it many times over a period of days and weeks . Sure, the humidity was at an all-time high of 50% at room temperature :) This resulted in no significant weight increase. The unprimed stars and primed comets worked perfectly.

 

What wasn't perfect was me- and my POS video camera! I would like to bring you folks something worth watching. Maybe this week...

Posted

I had it explained once to me that the vapor pressure of a saturated aqueous solution can ballpark the hygroscopic point. A hygroscopic solid or an aqueous solution of it is expected to absorb water if the air around it has a higher moisture content, and is expected to expel water if it has a lower moisture content.

 

If this is true sodium nitrate becomes hygroscopic at around 73-77% humidity. Potassium nitrate is close to 90-94%.

Posted
Yeah baby, nice rockets. The Chlorate purple was great.
Posted
Nice gold glitter. Thanks for the video.
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
Posted

Advice me, please, several glitter compositions without Sb2S3 for the rolling stars. I'm going to make stars with Glitter to Red Peony.

  • 7 months later...
Posted

Just wanted to stop in and say that I got this composition to work, and it's quite nice. Thanks for sharing!

 

Used 30-60 Mg/Al, Southern Pine, and 11 percent moisture for pumping (water with 10 percent methanol). Mill everything (Minus the Mg/Al) for 20 minutes give or take, add moisture, thoroughly mix moisture in then screen it good, lastly add Mg/Al, mix it in and pump your stars etc.

 

A couple of star tests up close, I noticed a nice orange charcoal stream with floating delayed Mg/Al flashes similar to FSFOY, only they were solid orange flashes with less hangtime/faster timing. The Mg/Al flashes seem to happen on their own nice and clean and not so drossy, which I think can be attributed to high charcoal content and low sulfur. The residual sodium really makes a nice orange flash on the Mg/Al flakes as well as color the charcoal a bit. The coarseness of the Mg/Al is critical in this, I doubt anything bigger than 80 or 100 mesh would work as you would either get very quick flashes or none at all as the Mg/Al would get burned in the flame envelope before getting 'kicked out.' I'm sure adding some Sodium Bicarbonate would increase the delay if one chose to do so.

 

Quite interesting how long the delay is given there is no 'normal' delay agent (carbonates, oxalates) in it. I've had simlar results subbing a mix of Strontium and Potassium Nitrate in this same formula a while ago, only the flashes were white and the charcoal burned slightly more red. I do have video of that one, and will have have video of this one very soon. I am going to make a batch with all strontium and, heck, maybe even a barium one just for comparison.

 

I wonder if using strontium nitrate and strontium carbonate together would yeild red or pink flashes with a longer delay? I don't have strontium carbonate but I do have the nitrate for inital testing. Expecting to see redish/darker charcoal burn with pink flashes.

 

I'll get a video up soon of some 1.75 comets, along with other stuff I've accumulated while I've been gone (on other threads of course). Good to see this forum and some of the old faces, been a long while.

Posted

The flashes of strontium nitrate and strontium carbonate are at best slightly pink. Part of it might be wishful thinking and a preconceived expectation. There's a set of formulas called pampanino, pimpinella, pampanella, or something similar you might be interested in looking into. Good red colors or glitters require chlorine, but chlorine has a nasty habit of killing glitters. It's a tough nut to crack, but where there's a will, there's a way.

 

It's interesting you bring up firefly. I've long thought that this formula is closer to a firefly composition than a true glitter. They're related, but function on somewhat different mechanisms. Doesn't make it any less breathtaking though.

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

I think you hit the nail on the head, this could be thought of as a "Fast Golden Firefly" or the likes. Would adding a little Sodium Bicarb slow it down enough to make it a true long-hanging Orange firefly? (on cocaine of course as it's a Mg/Al firefly and not Aluminum) I'm very curious and think that it would be a great variation on firefly glitter.

 

About the Strontium Nitrate test version: After success with Winokur 1 and seeing noticable pink flashes, I'm hoping we can make a pink firelfy glitter (pink flaming sh*t falls on you) and control the delay with Strontium Carbonate while not losing the pink color. The quesiton is will it burn the right temp to get delayed pink flashes, or will it just flash white?

 

I have a feeling the barium nitrate version is just going to make white flashes and essentially be another workaround to a version of FSFOY.... which also brings up that we are using Dextrin and not Starpol and getting almost the same results, albeit a bit more is used. I personally hate the fluffiness of Starpol and wonder if I'll continue using it for such comps?

 

Milling up some Strontium today, will update when there's more results/video.

Edited by PhoenixRising
  • 5 weeks later...
Posted
Try the Angy Pink Glitter (posted by me some tred back) and substitute the magnalium with 325 spherical alluminium. You will have a nice pinkish glitters
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Thanks for the headsup I'll look into that!

As for 'sperimentin with strontium: the full strontium version gave me big dross pucks.... which could have been the result of undried SrNO3 being it has sat for a year and probably absorbed water. I've since dried it but probably won't retest. A mix of SrNO3 and KNO3 similar to Winokur 1 or 2 is usable and have done it before woth success. Yeilds a short firefly tail of white flashes.

Mixtures heavy in charcoal already take long to dry, and strontium don't help things. Perhaps it can be phenolic bound and wet with alcohol?

So busy I didn't barely get time to enjoy myself this 4th.

Edited by PhoenixRising
Posted (edited)
Sad for the busy 4th july...i Also had problem with nitrate, so i stepped to carbonate and sulfate ( i like sulfate more than carbonate) wich are less or none higroscopic. May be an idea bond with phenolic but i think Will kill glitter...i use not more the 10% of 80-20 water acetone mix bonding with dextrin. Edited by kingkama
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