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magnesium shavings


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Posted
does anybody know what mesh is used in ti salutes ,and would mg substitute for this? I have 200 grams of mg shavings, probably 30 mesh and am wondering if it would work the same as Ti in aerial 70/30 flash salutes.
Posted
I think that question has been asked before and the answer was no IIRC. Maybe if the Mg was like fine steel wool it might work. I think that’s was sponge Ti is.
Posted
I don't have my note book with me right now but I think last time I made aerial salutes I used an extra 10% 100mesh Ti added to the flash
Posted
...Maybe if the Mg was like fine steel wool it might work. I think that’s was sponge Ti is.

No, titanium sponge is hard irregular granules made from crushing the sponge-like block that is the end product from a special titanium manufatcturing process.

Posted
The size of Ti used is fairly large. Often larger than 30 mesh. I would suspect you would use a smaller mesh for small aerial salutes. I do believe what was determined earlier was that the Mg would be consumed by the flash instead of ejecting flaming particles. Never hurts to try though. Perhaps we are wrong. I don't know if it's ever been attempted with that large of a particle size in tests I've seen.
Posted
The size of Ti used is fairly large. Often larger than 30 mesh. I would suspect you would use a smaller mesh for small aerial salutes. I do believe what was determined earlier was that the Mg would be consumed by the flash instead of ejecting flaming particles. Never hurts to try though. Perhaps we are wrong. I don't know if it's ever been attempted with that large of a particle size in tests I've seen.

I have tried this in 70/30 flash with 4-8 mesh magnesium shavings. I concur with Mumbles - the Mg is consumed before being ejected.

Posted
I don't have my note book with me right now but I think last time I made aerial salutes I used an extra 10% 100mesh Ti added to the flash

I take that back, I used Skylighter CH3041 which is -10+60 mesh Ti. It also looks like Skylighter doesn't have it anymore hmmm....

Posted
I use 18-30 mesh Ti sponge, Mg is lighter than Ti, so I'm sure it burns faster. Although the Mg in strobes tends to burn slowly, probably a result of the sulfate in strobe.
  • 7 years later...
Posted

Magnesium shavings need coating?

Posted (edited)

does anybody know what mesh is used in ti salutes ,and would mg substitute for this? I have 200 grams of mg shavings, probably 30 mesh and am wondering if it would work the same as Ti in aerial 70/30 flash salutes.

the smallest mesh I found in formulas was mesh 400 or ~40 micron. AFAIK 100 micron (mesh 140) magnesium works fine in flash. Sparkler recipes often specifically note to use coarse metals.

 

Mg IS NOT like Ti in any sense, it is vaporized at ~1100 C and burns much faster than Ti or Al, which both boils above 2000 C. So it is much worse for sparcs (some mixes may produce short sparc) and mixes that burn calmly may become flashes if Al/Ti substituted for Mg. Mg often produces dense white smoke after burning.

 

I once tested Mg/KNO3 2/1 mix with fairly large Mg (AFAIK ~ 100-140 mesh). 20 cm tube burned in several seconds or so, I was not able to estimate properly, producing blinding white flare about 1.5-2m high. Another test with smaller paper rolled tube resulted in explosion because of self-plugged exhaust. Yet another test with small paper tube showed that the mix produces significant thrust.

Edited by krakra
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