Organic Stars

[firetech]

Hey whats everyones best organic colored star comps?

I use Shimizu's Red and Yellow. I still have yet to find a really good non-chlorate green. And I'm still all over the place with the blues...

 

I really want to just settle with the best of the best.

[stug161]

Blues of course are almost completely non-metallic, atleast for the good ones. Do a search for AP Blue. The NH4CLO4 and hexamine have a cool burn temp. This is the best blues I have found. Not sure who it was that posted it, but it is very pleasing. Reds are so much fun, for as long as you have some chlorine and strontium, it seems hard to go too wrong!!

 

 

Robert

Edited September 1, 2009 by stug161

[Seymour]

Why must there be no metals??

 

Using Barium nitrate or carbonate without Ammonium perchlorate I cannot see you having any success. You could use Barium chlorate, but you indicate that you do not want to. Given that, I can only see you having any luck with Ammonium perchlorate as the oxidiser and chlorine donor. I suggest you catalyze the Ammonium perchlorate, perhaps with Chrome oxide, so it burns better.

Edited September 1, 2009 by Seymour

[Mumbles]

Many are impressed with Shimizu Blue #70.

 

Perc - 63.8

Parlon - 13.8

CuO - 12.9

Red Gum - 9.5

Dex - 4

[Ventsi]

What about a good chlorate/carbonate/gum red?

I see a lot of very similar formulas utilizing the same ingridients, do you guys know one that works well? And how fast does it burn?

[Arthur]

Hexamine is a great fuel for blues, somewhere in cyberspace is a whole furmulary using only hexamine as fuel. Keep searching!

[50AE]

I am very happy with the following blue :

 

KClO3 : 64.5

CuO : 13.4

Parlon : 5.4

Red Gum :9.9

Charcoal : 2

SGRS : 4.8

 

Also with the following deep orange from Ventsi :

 

6 KClO3

2 Dextrin

1 CaSO4

1 PVC

[NightHawkInLight]

I'm going to have to give that deep orange a shot. Looks interesting.

 

Here is my AP purple comp:

 

Ammonium perchlorate - 70

Charcoal - 15

Sulfur - 8

Copper(II) chloride - 7

Dextrin - +5

 

It's a blueish shade, but still distinctly purple.

[Ventsi]

50AE , is that still orange for you??? Mine are still nice and pink , even after two months of storage.

I suppose I myself will have to try pure anhydrous CaSO4 instead of the powdered gypsum board. And for what its worth, the PVC was sculpey powder dissolved in Acetone.

 

I'll see if I can take a good picture/video of a few stars burning. I'll play with the formulae a bit more once I buy a sack of KCl and get my cell running again.

[Mumbles]

I'm going to have to give that deep orange a shot. Looks interesting.

 

Here is my AP purple comp:

 

Ammonium perchlorate - 70

Charcoal - 15

Sulfur - 8

Copper(II) chloride - 7

Dextrin - +5

 

It's a blueish shade, but still distinctly purple.

 

 

http://www.apcforum.net/forums/style_images/bohdb/spacer.gif

I'm curious how you're getting a purple from that comp with no red emitter? Is the charcoal itself enough to shift the hue? Also, is there any reason for not using a more traditional blue colorant? It has too many issues for my preferences.

[NightHawkInLight]

http://www.apcforum.net/forums/style_images/bohdb/spacer.gif

I'm curious how you're getting a purple from that comp with no red emitter? Is the charcoal itself enough to shift the hue? Also, is there any reason for not using a more traditional blue colorant? It has too many issues for my preferences.

You know, maybe I'm colorblind. I believe the charcoal does it in addition perhaps to the dextrin or other starch used. Here is a video that gives a good visual as to the true color of the stars:

 

Some evidence that a red color can be produced by sugar compounds:

The composition used in that video was merely:

 

Potassium Nitrate - 6

Magnesium (-200) - 4

Charcoal - 1

 

With a single marshmallow as binder for 10 grams. Where else could the red color come from? Not only is it red, but it also uses nitrate as the oxidizer?! This leads me to believe that sugars, in the form of dextrin or possibly SGRS could also act as a red colorant. That is something I noticed in my very first charcoal streamers with homemade dextrin back in the day. They appeared to have quite red flames in contrast to the orange tail. Due perhaps to over/undercooking of the dextrin...Something I want to look into.

 

I have been to busy recently, but I plan on doing further experimenting with sugars and Mg to produce red.

 

As far as the copper chloride goes, it was all I had for a long while. I tried using it in these stars and have never had any sort of issue with them. The only problem I've had is that they really could use a good priming, but I have never bothered to buy potassium perchlorate. Pathetic right?

 

EDIT: BTW, if you don't think those sparklers look red in my video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChA9NpJqmIA...=response_watch

Edited September 1, 2009 by NightHawkInLight

[Emerald]

Hello,

this is very interesting a red without strontium,

as we see not all experiences has been done yet in pyrotechnics.

I remember when i saw the first crackling shells and i loved them,

now i am a bit tired of but when i saw new effects to me like matrix-comets,go-getters and falling-leaves at our tiny cities here on the country in germany i know that there will be much more discoveries to come.

Thats why i love pyrotechnics...

 

But back to topic:

In your last link NightHawkInLight what is going on with his second sparkler...?

Did only i see this yellowish/greenish sparks coming from the added titanium...

How could that be i thought titanium only is capable of making silver-sparks...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChA9NpJqmIA...=response_watch

 

Could anyone explain why that could come ...

 

(sorry for my bad english).

 

greetings from germany:

 

Emerald

[NightHawkInLight]

That is a camera illusion. What you see are the white Ti sparks falling into green grass. The green reflects off the grass and makes the sparks appear that color also.

 

Welcome to the forum by the way!

 

As usual it seems my posts have hijacked another thread...sorry about that. I'll keep looking for organic comps. Senko hanabi comes to mind:

 

Potassium Nitrate 55

Charcoal 15

Sulfur 30

 

Ish...The composition varies so extremely it's hard to say for sure.

 

EDIT: Senko Hanabi:

Edited September 1, 2009 by NightHawkInLight

[Carbon796]

My favorite organic blue is . . .

 

AP - 82%

Copper Benzoate - 18%

SGRS + 5%

 

Its simple, with really good color saturation.

[AdmiralDonSnider]

Hey whats everyones best organic colored star comps?

I use Shimizu's Red and Yellow. I still have yet to find a really good non-chlorate green. And I'm still all over the place with the blues...

 

I really want to just settle with the best of the best.

 

Good greens are either based on barium chlorate, or on barium nitrate (with or without potassium perchlorate), chlorine donors and metal fuels. It will be hard to get a good green without the chlorate and the metals. Hardt (p.150) gives a non-metal formula based on the nitrate (did not try it yet), which is:

 

Hardt Green Star #4

 

Barium nitrate 30

Potassium perchlorate 44

Red Gum 13

Charcoal, airfloat 4

PVC 5

Dextrin 4

 

but he says that is a slight improvement compared to #3, whereof he mentioned that "the color is poor". I would try to get some MgAl in any case.

 

Concerning other colors, I´m still a fan of chlorate formulas. E.g. Weingarts Red #1 with Sr(NO3)2 and KClO3 works very good for me.

[sparksnsky]

My best colored star is an AP blue:

 

Ammonium Perchlorate..........62

Copper Oxide.......................13

Hexamine............................10

Saran..................................11

Dextrin................................4

 

I found it in the thread bellow.

 

http://www.apcforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2236

 

It my best blue and best organic color achieved.

[optimus]

Barney purple is a really nice organic comp IIRC... I can't find it at the moment but I believe it's on the Passfire database.

 

It's a very well-balanced purple - not too blue, not too red : )

[dagabu]

Many are impressed with Shimizu Blue #70.

 

Perc - 63.8

Parlon - 13.8

CuO - 12.9

Red Gum - 9.5

Dex - 4

 

Mmmmmm, Shimizu! Nice clean color, some like Lancasters blue but Shimizu does it for me!

[lodcomm]

I am very happy with the following blue :

 

KClO3 : 64.5

CuO : 13.4

Parlon : 5.4

Red Gum :9.9

Charcoal : 2

SGRS : 4.8

 

What pitfalls would I be stepping into by attempting to substitute kclO4 for the O3 in this formula?

 

I am always on the lookout for a good perchlorate / copper oxide based blue!

 

And Mumbles - have you tried that Shimizu #70 you list above? Did you like it?

 

thanks!

 

-t

[Seymour]

Perchlorate contains a higher percent of oxygen, so to replicate the oxygen ballance slightly less should be used.

 

Other than that, it should work fine. However the oxidisers do behave differently. It will burn, and it will burn blue, but it may be a different blue to the original formula, and will almost certainly burn slower with a smaller flame.

[firetech]

I only have organic stars at the time. Does the metallic fuel really make a difference in stars? (Brightness, hue and saturation). My stars are definitely the colors I'd like, but I haven't had a chance to test them from a distance.

[Mumbles]

I've not tried #70 personally, but I've seen many batches in person made by others. It is very nice. I was planning on making some last year, but I fell subject to Mumbles' Great CuO Shortage of '08. It was a hard time for all, but we persevered and have restocked.

[Miech]

@Lodcomm: Try this one from Pihko, it's my favorite.

 

63 Potassium Perchlorate

14 Parlon

13 Copper(II)Oxide

10 Red Gum

+5 Dextrin

 

This one rolls very well, but it can be cut or pumped if preferred. Priming with meal sufficed for me every single time.

[lodcomm]

Thanks a ton for the input. I rolled 200gm worth of Shimizu #2 KP blue last week but I was not too impressed with the colour depth. It was more like a bluish tinted white - I could definitely see blue in there but it was more like the "blue aftermarket headlight" look. My red gum is a bit grainy perhaps that is contributing to the lack of color. I ball milled the whole mess (minus the KP), but it still looked to me like the red gum was not breaking down as nicely as the rest of the components, how long do you folks mill your red gum star compositions?

 

I will try both the pihko & Shimizu's #70 - and report my results.

 

I dont have any AP, and would rather come up with a decent workable blue using KP, as I always have it on hand.

 

thanks again

 

-t

[Mumbles]

... but it still looked to me like the red gum was not breaking down as nicely as the rest of the components, how long do you folks mill your red gum star compositions?

 

...

 

Most don't mill them at all. I just screen them. It will remove the clumps, which usually arn't RG anyway.

 

Did you test the star comp as a loose pile, or bound stars? Also was it tested close up or out of a star gun? These two things both make a difference.