Flitter and Glitter

The ability of certain compositions containing magnesium or magnalium alloy to burn in a pulsing, strobe light manner is a novel phenomenon believed to involve 

Source R. M. Winokur, The Pyrotechnic Phenomenon of Glitter, in Pyrotechnica II, Pyrotechnica Publications, Austin, TX, 1978. 

A typical lead-free crackling composition is as follows  

This composition would be blended with solvent, and the damp material wonld be tumbled or screened to form small granules, which are then dried for nse. 

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The charcoal, or rather the coated charcoal, contributes to the fountain effect as does the gunpowder and aluminium by processes such as those described above. The flitter aluminium has a rather coarser particle structure than does the fine aluminium so that sparks from the former are longer lived and can survive a greater drop-height. Antimony trisulfide is commonly used to enhance the glittering effect in a series of chemical reactions with the gunpowder and aluminium. 

In charcoal spark effects, the charcoal, as carbon, is added in excess of stoichiometric requirements. In glitter effects, the charcoal is added in nearly stoichiometric quantity with a ten percent excess to compensate for the normal levels of ash content, volatiles and moisture. In flitter, by contrast, the charcoal is normally added in less than the amount required to reduce the potassium nitrate stoichiometrically with respect to carbon dioxide. This can be used as a test of the theory given here if the charcoal in a glitter formula is reduced to one third the prescribed level, a flitter type of effect should be observed. It is possible to formulate glitter mixtures which have large percentages of antimony sulfide or arsenic sulfide that could also glitter with one third the normal charcoal, but these would be rather unusual, and expensive. In such mixtures, antimony sulfide would chemically perform the reductions normally performed by carbon in the charcoal. 

Flitter compositions based on potassium nitrate are not a principal topic of this paper. However, since flitter effects often intrude in discussions of glitter and since the flitter effect is often seen in experimental mixtures, a short discussion is necessary. The basic difference between glitter and flitter effects is that glitter effects burn the metal fuels in a sudden flash reaction, while flitter effects burn the metal fuels more gradually, thus the flash and associated sound are not found in flitter effects. 

Too much aluminum surface is present for the melt to cover to a depth or thickness sufficient to cause delay reactions. This is why the atomized aluminums are preferred in glitter mixtures and the flake types in flitter mixtures. 

This paper is not the proper forum for comprehensive aluminum data, but in developing any theory of glitter the theory must account for most observed phenomena. The phenomena of the wet reacted aluminum has been handled in part. Additionally it is observed that such aluminum does not react as quickly with a drop of water or sodium hydroxide solution after it is removed from the spritzel reactions. Dye absorption techniques confirm this microscopically. Can the theory of oxidizer accumulation in the spritzel reactions account for this damaged aluminum performance Asymmetrical spritz with flitter-like residues would be expected, diminished brilliance of the spritz and greatly increased delay would be expected, and a failure to fire in a spritz-like flash would be expected in the extreme case. All of these are observed. Aluminums of high surface-to-mass ratio would be expected to fire as spritz in the spritzels at relatively low sulfate concentrations unless other factors override this condition, such as viscosity and mobility of fluid transport in the spritzel. This is... 

Add 10% of a glitter producing aluminum to the straight mix. Compare with above. Add similarly to the powder with dextrin and make micro gerbs and stars. Observe that the aluminum acts as nucleation material for the spray of material produced by the burning comp. Glitter-like and flitter spritzels are found. Collect spritzels at various distances from the source and test. 

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