bigtonyicu

I agree, Mg flash are un-needed, stupidly sensitive and dangerous, there's no need for them. get the right stuff and keep it safe you can get the same chest thump with Aluminum and KClO4. Magnesium is just too reactive for no reason.

I don't see what your trying to achieve E-Tech? Im assuming dark pyro ali for Flash use in which case Ill tell you now there's no point continuing along these tracks it simply isn't possible at home to make 1-5 micron ali suitable for the job.

Well it is... but unless you plan on making LOTS of it... you'll be working for ever just to pay off the gear, I can't imagine making a good Hammer mill for less then 500$ (CAD) plus the cost of your raw material.

As for using charcoal with fine AL that's not even in the ball bark. Even if you had the same micron size with the same amount of carbon (%) you'd end up with 2 problems. The manufacturing process for "Pyro Dark" binds the carbon black to the Al making it possible to transfer the energy to the metal, just adding air float will suck energy away from the Al; to make it worst charcoal doesn't do a great job at absorbing energy in the first place it actually reflects a lot of it.

As for you blender yes it will make "Fine Aluminum" but no were near 1-5 micron size of "Dark Al". Plus keep in mind that every time you 1/2 the cube size you end up with 8 times the surface area. so you might end up being able to make 300-400 mesh size with a blender, and that's about 8 step up in cube, so that means you have 1/64th the surface area, hence 1/64 the reaction area*(the fraction of the energy absorption) so your AL will be around 100 times slow then dark Al.

Sorry to burst you bubble but better the get facts straight before you start spending money on things that won't give you what you want (isn't this the 4 or 5 time I write something like this on making sub-mesh aluminum)

Thanks for the heads-up on that discussion thread, Bigtonyicu!
I notice that the presence of lampblack is a big factor in "true" German dark.
This would have to come from something other than a source of cellulose (i.e. paper). most likely, you say, a plasticized paper.
Wouldn't something like old newspaper produce something similar? What was German Dark originally made for? If it was made for the small world of pyrotechnicians- would it have been possible that a cheap source of paper (old newspapers) were used for it's manufacture?
What type of weight ratios would we have to start with in order to mimic the numbers shown by your lab work-up of 5413-H?

Lamp Black does not come from paper, if comes from the incomplet combustion of plastics, fat, or hydrocarbon (I'm sure there's other sources); Old news paper won't produce lamp black even when degassed in a retort is will only make charcoal.

Eckart is a pigment manufacturer so I'm guessing it's initial use was either pigments or pyro there's not that many use for a powder that fine.

As for the ratio, that depends on the paper (mostly the thickness of coating on the paper). But with out a stamp mill of a hammer mill you wont be able to acheive the 1-5 micron sizes needed.

Tip: use fairly coarse powders, that way the mixing will be limited to particle boundaries as the crystals melt and keep the reaction rate low. I doubt if it would be too nasty with a bicarbonate and a weak acid anyway.

Bicarbonate is my starting point. Hydroxide might be next (potasium of course... I don't want sodiums low melting point.

guys take a look at he last few pages of the Fash powder pages, I've done lots of work and I have a full analysis on what's actually "German dark" and how it's Made...