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Abstract We developed an attractive combustion approach for synthesizing uniformly shaped AlN dendritic crystals by combustion of Al + 0.1AlF 3 + k Al 2 O 3 powder mixtures in a nitrogen atmosphere. The combustion temperature measured for various k values was between 1650 and 1750 °C and the micro-droplets of Al formed in the beginning stages of the process were enveloped by the solid layers of Al 2 O 3 , and the subsequent multipoint nucleation and crystallization produced morphologically and size uniform dendritic crystals. We proposed a theoretical model for calculating the thickness and the number of Al 2 O 3 layers around of Al microdroplets at known concentration of Al 2 O 3. Depending on the concentration of Al 2 O 3 , these structures were simple stars with six points and stellar dendrites with multiple petals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]