Does Adding Titanium To Flash Powder Make It More Sensitive

[SSHPyro]

I want to add some titanium to my flash powder to give it a nice effect, will adding TI to 70/30 flash make it more sensitive at all?

[cmjlab]

That depends on a lot of factors. Some key considerations are that Titanium is considered a pyrophoricity risk at sub ~325 mesh / 45 microns Titanium can increase friction sensitivity (similar to how glass is added to safety match strike pads, grit is added to adult snappits and torpedoes, grit is added to some exploding air gun targets, etc - it increases friction).

 

A lot of people add it as the last step prior to closing the bottom shots container and allow it to mix from handling. Some people glue it inside the bottom shots core then add the flash and close it up. The point being to avoid handling flash with Titanium im it, to the greatest extent possible, therefore decreasing the likelihood of an accident related to friction or other ignition hazard.

[Mumbles]

Titanium mixed with the flash will increase its sensitivity. As cmjlab said, it's abrasive and will make flash more sensitive to friction and impact.

[Skyboomer]

What would be the ratio of titanium in a 70:30 mix and also a 50:50 magnalium mix.  The aluminum is 2 micron Indian pyro and the titanium is 44 micron.  I don’t have any magnalium yet.  It’s expensive.  Is the  magnalium based one particularly unsafe?  I was planning on only doing the 70:30 but was curious about the magnalium based one.  I have a thirst for knowledge.  It keeps my mind busy   thanks.  
 

edit.  I put alternating layers of powder in a tube, seal it and then shake the ingredients together.

Edited January 3, 2024 by Skyboomer
Added additional details

[cmjlab]

For Al mixtures, +5-10% granular or atomized Titanium are commonly used to good effect. I'm not sure what the magic number would be for "too much" Titanium (or the point of diminishing returns where it starts to adversely affect the overall effect you are going for), but I wouldn't exceed 15% to avoid this..  Sponge Titanium has been used as well (especially "Grape Nut" Titanium, sometimes mixed in, but more usually glued to inside of bottom shot to create a "donut" type effect), but some people believe Sponge Ti increases sensitivity more so than atomized, which makes sense to me given that atomized is generally smoother and has less surface area exposed, whereas sponge has lots of sharpe jagged edges, and plenty of surface area.

I don't know much about Mg/Al versions because I haven't really used it except for breaking crossettes a few times.  I don't have any empirical proof, but it always seems a bit more powerful then Al versions I've tried. The higher cost of Mg/Al is the main reason I don't use it for bottom shots, too expensive to waste.