CLAY NANOCOMPOSITE CREATES FIRE-RESISTANT FURNITURE FOAM, SAY SCOTTISH RESEARCHERS
June 1st, 2007
BY MARK ROWEA NANO-COMPOSITE of clay has been used to develop a polyurethane fire retardant that significantly improves the ability of foam-based furniture to resist heat. Researchers at Strathclyde University, Scotland, have claimed that the nano-based version can lead to a 93% reduction in fire damage. Laboratory tests on armchairs using the nano-clay particles, usually based on hydrophilic or organophilic silicate in sheet-type or multi-scale structure, showed that fire damage was limited to just 7% of the furniture, while traditional retardants failed to stop ...
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