Fireworks Materials( I )

 The followings are the materials which usually are used in fireworks manufacture and their functions.

                               Aluminum
Over the last seventy or eighty years aluminum has added tremendously to the last brilliance of fireworks, and yet the great variety in production techniques has caused problems in the production of uniform effects. The powders are prepared in hammer mills, in ball mills, or by atomization.

Flake aluminum in mesh sizes is known as “ flitter ” and there has been a tendency for manufacturers to sell this to the firework trade under the categories of “ fine”, “middle” and “coarse”.

The so called Dark p y r o  Aluminum consists of a very fine flake powder that is produced in varying shades of dark grey.
Atomized aluminum is being used increasingly in fireworks. But up to the present time only limited use has been found for this material.

      

                       Ammonium Salts
In the past , white smokes have been made with potassium chlorate and ammonium chlorate, and it has to be admitted that mixture appears to be reasonably stable, though at first sight theoretically this should not be so .

 

                           Ammonium per chlorate
In recent years ammonium perch orate has been used extensively, not only in fireworks for the production of rich blue and red colors, but also in the manufacture of propellants. It can be safely mixed with pure potassium per chlorate but must not be used with chlorates, and it is unwise to mix ammonium per chlorate stars with other chlorate stars in the same shell or rocket.

                         Anthracene

The  pure form occurs as fine blue fluorescent crystals which melt at about 213c. it is insoluble in water and rather sparingly soluble in most organic solvents.

Anthracene is mainly used in combination with potassium per chlorate to produce black smokes.

                              Antimony, S b

Antimony is mainly used to produce white fires in combination with potassium nitrate and s ulph u r or it is used in combination with aluminum to aid ignition. Antimony is also responsible in part for the well known glitter effect which is basically a combination of gunpowder, antimony and aluminum.

       

                           Antimony Tri s u l p h Id e , Sb2S3

As a fuel, its uses are much the same as the metal powder, though it ignites more easily. It has disadvantage also that it is more dirty to handle than the metal powder.

Synthetically produced material is not usually used in fireworks and it can be difficult to get good glitter effects from it.

                     Arsenic disulphide,As2s2 Real gar

The native ore, real g a r , is sometimes ground to a fine powder and used to make white fires. It has also been used for making smokes.

  

                      Arsenic T r I s u l p hide , As2s3 Orpiment

The commercial powder has two forms, one yellow and one red . the yellow form changes to red on heating to  170 c.

The red form is often used to make white stars which have the advantage of being easy to ignite when moving at very fast speeds. A part from the occasional use in smokes, orpiment is used in combination with carbon black for making. Flower Pots with their characteristic golden spur fire.

Arsenic is safe to handle, of course, provided that precautions are taken to keep it out of the nose and mouth.