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Dragon's Eggs in consumer shells


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Posted (edited)

In the past 2 years that i have bought consumer fireworks I noticed an interesting effect that looks great when there is a ton of them in a shell. like this :

I'm talking about the eggs in the very first shells

 

They are the dragon's eggs that crack and throw off showers of white sparks in the shape of a ball like in this shell, I don't know the name of the effect, and i don't think it's 325 mesh al. because i put them in my dragons eggs and got no sparks, just louder crack. The sparks almost remind me of titanium...

 

the same link above

what is in those dragon's eggs in the very first 3 shells?!?!?! Edited by alexpyro101
Posted
I guess ferrotitanium. It looks like titanium but is yellow in colour.
Posted (edited)
It can be done with both types of titanium. But this effect is really difficult to make. I haven't seen any amateur doing it properly. Edited by FREAKYDUTCHMEN
Posted (edited)

The effect can not, as far as I am aware made by people adding Ti or FeTi to crackle, unfortunately, as it would be convenient.

 

While I expect FeTi would work well, in these things (due to the lower temp slaggy smolder mix) getting gold out of the Ti is quite easy, like in many Brocade and Kamuro formulas.

 

My preferred name for the effect is 'Dragon Flowers', though 'Crackling Flowers' is also very common.

 

A good, single pop dragon egg is used for the star core and a smoldering Titanium mix is rolled over it to the thickness of a few milimeters, and then primed. These stars initially burn dark, then explode in to a "dandelion " of sparks.

 

Examples appear at 1.21, 2.04, 2.10

 

While the process for 50g of dragon flowers would be rather tedious, when making half a kilo it it is not too much harder than priming stars (if very small ones).

 

 

I've succeeded in getting single pop dragon eggs very easily with coarse (60-100 mesh) MgAl using the Formula by David Trimmel:

 

37.5% Bismuth trioxide

37.5% Copper (II) Oxide

25% MgAl

+4% NC

 

 

For the delay mix I've modified the 'original'** published mix only slightly. I've dropped the Antimony trisulfide, not having any, and I've tried to compensate with more sulfur. I used Red Gum for the resin content.

 

34 Potassium nitrate

20 Red Gum

20 Titanium

15 Charcoal

11 Sulfur

+ 4% Water soluble binder (dextrin or whatever you're in to)

 

Variables such as Titanium size, and the ratio of smolder mix to Dragon Eggs depends of personal taste, and the size of the dragon eggs. 10-12 mesh dragon eggs work nicely with ten times their weight in smolder mix.

 

If these are to be used as they are, I suggest a fairly thick greenmix-type prime to get them lit.

 

However, it's so tempting to use these as star cores, or in fountains and matrix comets, that I think it wise to put aside a good portion unprimed for these purposes.

 

** I got it from an APC thread which was neither the first place it was published on the wider web or APC.

 

"I've always been a little reluctant to post this, hoping to save it until I could actually try it out, but I suppose most of the details are out. The details about these are published in the Proceedings of the 8th Annual International Symposium on Fireworks. It was actually originally published on the internet here at APC several years ago by a member named "Crazy_Swede" as far as I can tell. " Quoting Mumbles

 

http://www.amateurpyro.com/forums/topic/5072-dragon-eggs-dragon-flowers/page__hl__%2Bcrackling+%2Bflower

Edited by Seymour
Posted
I haven't tried it myself but I have it on good authority, it's 70/30 copper oxide/magnalium, possibly with some added ferrotitanium. These would (I guess) be bound with NC like dragon's eggs and would need priming well. I was interested in making them once, but the effect is so over-used in consumer fireworks I lost interest.
Posted

The effect can not, as far as I am aware made by people adding Ti or FeTi to crackle, unfortunately, as it would be convenient.

 

While I expect FeTi would work well, in these things (due to the lower temp slaggy smolder mix) getting gold out of the Ti is quite easy, like in many Brocade and Kamuro formulas.

 

My preferred name for the effect is 'Dragon Flowers', though 'Crackling Flowers' is also very common.

 

A good, single pop dragon egg is used for the star core and a smoldering Titanium mix is rolled over it to the thickness of a few milimeters, and then primed. These stars initially burn dark, then explode in to a "dandelion " of sparks.

 

Examples appear at 1.21, 2.04, 2.10

 

While the process for 50g of dragon flowers would be rather tedious, when making half a kilo it it is not too much harder than priming stars (if very small ones).

 

 

I've succeeded in getting single pop dragon eggs very easily with coarse (60-100 mesh) MgAl using the Formula by David Trimmel:

 

37.5% Bismuth trioxide

37.5% Copper (II) Oxide

25% MgAl

+4% NC

 

 

For the delay mix I've modified the 'original'** published mix only slightly. I've dropped the Antimony trisulfide, not having any, and I've tried to compensate with more sulfur. I used Red Gum for the resin content.

 

34 Potassium nitrate

20 Red Gum

20 Titanium

15 Charcoal

11 Sulfur

+ 4% Water soluble binder (dextrin or whatever you're in to)

 

Variables such as Titanium size, and the ratio of smolder mix to Dragon Eggs depends of personal taste, and the size of the dragon eggs. 10-12 mesh dragon eggs work nicely with ten times their weight in smolder mix.

 

If these are to be used as they are, I suggest a fairly thick greenmix-type prime to get them lit.

 

However, it's so tempting to use these as star cores, or in fountains and matrix comets, that I think it wise to put aside a good portion unprimed for these purposes.

 

** I got it from an APC thread which was neither the first place it was published on the wider web or APC.

 

"I've always been a little reluctant to post this, hoping to save it until I could actually try it out, but I suppose most of the details are out. The details about these are published in the Proceedings of the 8th Annual International Symposium on Fireworks. It was actually originally published on the internet here at APC several years ago by a member named "Crazy_Swede" as far as I can tell. " Quoting Mumbles

 

http://www.amateurpyro.com/forums/topic/5072-dragon-eggs-dragon-flowers/page__hl__%2Bcrackling+%2Bflower

Funny thing is i rememver reading that article, thx for the input i'll.have to get around to trying these soon

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