Other Metals
Titanium metal (Ti) offers some attractive properties to the highenergy chemist. It is quite stable in the presence of moisture and most chemicals, and produces brilliant silver-white spark and light effects with oxidizers. Lancaster feels that it is a safer material to use than either magnesium or aluminum, and recommends that it be used in place of iron filings in fireworks "fountain" items, due to its greater stability. Cost and lack of publicity seem to be the major factors keeping titanium from being a much more widely used fuel.
Zirconium (Zr) is another reactive metal, but its considerable expense is a major problem restricting its wider use in high-energy compositions. It is easily ignited - and therefore quite hazardous - as a fine powder, and must be used with great care.