Coil Posted August 25, 2006 Posted August 25, 2006 Can I bind whese stars with water? Potassium Nitrate.................................58Aluminum..........................................40Dextrin...........................................2
Von Bass` Posted August 25, 2006 Posted August 25, 2006 This probably needs to go into newb questions mate, but Im sure a kindly mod might move it. It depends on what type of Aluminium you're using. I find when I use 300 mesh spherical for that comp its fine with water. I would be much more careful with anything about 300 mesh flake. I recommend you do a few tests, put a few grams into water, see if it starts to give off Hydrogen. If not, I would guess that you're okay.
Mumbles Posted August 25, 2006 Posted August 25, 2006 This really should go into the random thread, but I'll move it to the newbie question section because I'm in a good mood. Anyway, I wouldn't be worried about hydrogen. Honestly, that is the least of your worries. I'd be worried about ammonia. Here is the simple answer. Yes, you can bind it with water. In fact if you want them to hold together at all you HAVE to bind them with water. It looks like that formula is home made. I'd add a few extra percent dextrin to hold it together better. Ok, now comes the most important part. USE BORIC ACID. If you don't use boric acid, your comp will almost without a doubt start reacting, thus giving the ammonia I mentioned earlier. Make a solution of boric acid in water and use that solution to wet the mix. Boric Acid prevents nitrates and aluminum from reacting.
hst45 Posted August 25, 2006 Posted August 25, 2006 I've seen this formula listed as "white star #1", attributed to rec. pyrotechnics. It appears on Pyrocreations site under colored stars. No info is given regarding the mesh size of the Al, hazards, etc., and I've personally never tried it myself. I too doubt that the 2% dextrin would hold them together, particularly if you have relatively large mesh aluminum. Mumbles, would potassium dichromate be a possibility to stabilize the Al, or would this only work with Mg? Sorry if I digress.
Frozentech Posted August 25, 2006 Posted August 25, 2006 I've seen this formula listed as "white star #1", attributed to rec. pyrotechnics. It appears on Pyrocreations site under colored stars. No info is given regarding the mesh size of the Al, hazards, etc., and I've personally never tried it myself. I too doubt that the 2% dextrin would hold them together, particularly if you have relatively large mesh aluminum. Mumbles, would potassium dichromate be a possibility to stabilize the Al, or would this only work with Mg? Sorry if I digress. I'm sure Mumbles will add on to this, but no.. dichromate treatment is only effective with Magnesium, where it's the only treatment to protect Mg from reactions with Ammonium Perchlorate. With Aluminum, the problem is that it reacts with Nitrates in a weakly alkaline solution. Adding Boric Acid to the comp tilts it acidic enough to protect against this reaction. I agree with Mumbles that you would want to add some Boric Acid to the solvent (water) used in this comp, I have a bottle of 70% H2O ( saturated with 6% Boric Acid ) 30% Alcohol that I use for aluminum-heavy comps.
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