During winters, who doesn’t like sitting close to the fireplace? However, doing that can become quite a headache if you need the warmth but you are sitting on a wooden chair. In addition to the safety risk, the furniture also gets damaged in the long term.
Scientists have come up with a method to make your furniture 35% less flammable and therefore, providing you with some freedom as to how you can use your furniture.
At NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), researchers have come up with a peculiar coating which is one-hundredth the thickness of human hair and renders the foam used in furniture less flammable. The key ides is to insert this coating between the layers of polymers a number of times to come up with a multi-layer coating, kind of a club sandwich.
The next concern for the researchers was to make sure that the coating remains stuck onto the polymer. This obstacle was overcome successfully and owing to the fact that it is so thin, the feel which you get when using your cushions or sofa is still the same. As mentioned before, the tweaked furniture is 35% less flammable and as of now, researchers are working to see if it will be safe to make use of these Carbon nanotubes. There is a possibility that these nanotubes might turn out to be a carcinogen.
However, until it is proven, it is safe to assume that this technology will be replacing the conventional fire retarders and will be more easy to use and less harmful while being more efficient. Check out the video below:
