Did you know that certain fabrics in your home can trigger fires? Read on to learn about 4 flammable fabrics in your home.
Knowing about flammable fabrics can help you choose the right fabric for household items, such as upholstery, slipcovers, and drapery. Since some fabrics are more flammable than others, you can make your home a safer place by avoiding the highly flammable ones.
Introducing the 4 Most Flammable Fabrics
Created from cellulosic material, the four extremely flammable fabrics in your home include cotton, linen, rayon, and lyocel.
If you examine them, the common feature among all four is that they are light, which enables an easy flow of oxygen through them. Since oxygen ignites flames, consistent flow will only encourage more rapid burning when exposed to fire or sparks.
Also, the flammability of garments is also greatly influenced by their design. Full, long garments that are lightweight tend to burn at a much faster rate since more material is exposed to oxygen.
More About Flammable Fabrics
Since cotton and linen have a lightweight texture, they’re the easiest to ignite. On top of that, the rate of combustion for these two fabrics is also pretty high because they don’t shrink away or melt from fire. Moreover, heavy smoke is released when materials containing cotton or linen catch fire.
After cotton and linen, rayon and lyocel are the most flammable fabrics. They burn with a yellow flame and come in both tightly knitted linen and loosely knit or lightweight options. Understandably, lightweight or loosely knit rayon, lyocel, and cotton are more vulnerable to fire due to oxygen flow as compared to heavy or tightly knit linen.
What’s most alarming about rayon and lyocel is that as they shrink upon catching fire, they can adhere to human skin. This can result in life-threatening burns.
How Can the Threats Be Reduced?
You can reduce the burning rates of draperies, curtains, and other household articles by applying flame retardants via chemical treatments. However, flame-retardant treatments are not recommended for clothing once they have been manufactured. Instead, consider buying clothes with minimum flammability such as tight-fitting jerseys, sturdy jeans, jersey pajamas, blouses without frills, and other short-sleeve, tight-fitting clothes. Certain fabrics, shirts, sweaters, and dresses are flame-retardant. Such garments are especially recommended for the elderly.
It’s important to know that flame-retardant materials used in garments need special laundering to maintain their flame retardant effectiveness. They must be only washed using standard detergents. Check the label on the garment that usually contains important information pertaining to the care of the garment.
Now that you have a clear idea about flammable fabrics, you can easily differentiate them from the safer ones when shopping for clothes and household items.
