9 replies to this topic

[MDH]

As a few of you might recall, I have always had some significant trouble with glitter formulas. For this reason I haven't produced any glitters for myself for a few years.

The problem I am encountering right now is with standard D1, and another glitter formula.

The potassium nitrate is roughly -60, not too fine, which I am often told is optimal for glitter.
The charcoal is airfloat pine, which seems to work excellently with other compositions.
The aluminum is 500 mesh spherical.
The sulfur is 97% treated with 3% potassium carbonate.
The sodium bicarbonate is also perfectly pure.

So, I am absolutely lost as to why instead of producing a glitter as it should, both prepared and finished compositions instead produce a small orange flame leaving behind very significant particles and ash. You would not be blamed for thinking there wasn't even aluminum within the composition.

[maxman]

Are you just testing a loose pile of comp or as a star? pumped, rolled,cut ?? A D1 glitter star burns as a molten mess on the ground and only displays its glitter features as its flying through the air. Also to much water in glitter can destroy the effect. Did you add boric acid? Last of all I find 200mesh the best for D1

Maxman

[MDH]

No - As a loose star composition it burns much more nicely. It is rolled into 1/2" stars as I do with meal based glitters (80/10/10 etc). I didn't put too much water in, and I did use boric acid.

I am aware that aluminum within the range of 100-400 mesh is optimal for glitter formulas, however I have used 1600 mesh granular which was originally intended for flash and the glitter reaction still worked. That was at least five years ago, and it was not a strictly D1 formula (it used black powder as a burn accelerator). So, to me, 500 mesh aluminum should not be particularly bad. My concern is that there is only a dim orange flame and nothing else when the star burns. Even as a molten mess on the ground should it not still be producing some bright golden light?

[maxman]

Just fire a single one from a star gun and all will be revealed

Maxman

[pyrotrev]

You'll need to go through the mix changing one thing at a time to be completely sure of what's killing your glitter but my first suspicion would always be the aluminium. Even for powders of the same nominal mesh size, there can be widely different effects from material from different manufacturers: I guess it's down to particle shape and surface oxidation.

[Night Owl]

Yes Maxman's right, you only see the glitter result when the star flies.

[MDH]

Just fire a single one from a star gun and all will be revealed

Maxman

Hi maxman,

I allowed it to dry for some time with a food dehydrating device and the stars now work excellently from a small 1/2" mine, though it probably needs to be dried further as all of the flashes had somewhat long of a delay.

I was also lost because the other glitters I have made are based on pure black powder combined with sulfur, aluminum and sodium chloride. Because of that, I was concerned about this new animal which doesn't seem to burn quite as actively as the aforementioned mixture.

Of course, it's also not as dense.

Thanks for the help you provided meanwhile.

[Yugen-biki]

If delayed flashes are unwanted you should try something else than D1. Maby something with Fe(III)O.

I mill everything but the Al in D1 in my ballmill. The Al is about 60µm and works fine. I have found that to coarse Al will not work rather than to fine.

Remember to dry the stars long enough, or else the effect will be lost.

[Mumbles]

You never mention what binder you're using. Using anything other than water based binder could compromise the effect.

I'm also worried about the potassium carbonate in combination with heat of the dehydrator. There's a chance the stars could have reacted, even with the boric acid in there. Something to remember is that while sodium bicarbonate can't neutralize boric acid, potassium carbonate can.