Artificial plants and trees have emerged as an excellent decorative addition for homes as well as offices. They are also used to embellish restaurants, hotels and other business places. There is an ample variety of silk plants available in different designs, shapes and colors to choose from. One feature that you should make sure of when buying silk plants is that the silk material used to manufacture the plant or tree is fire resistant.

Fire Tests for artificial plants

Artificial trees are included in the category of decorative accessories and materials which are supposed to be manufactured using nonflammable raw material. National Fire Protection Association is a nationwide organization which tests whether artificial plants are fire retardant or not. ASTM E84 and NFPA 701 are the commonly used fire tests used by most of the states. The objective of these tests is to measure the propagation of flame and the smoke generated from the material used in the artificial tree. The collected observations are then analyzed to answer whether the plant extinguishes itself or it causes the spread of fire after it is ignited. Also, in case the plant ignites, how much smoke is generated is also measured. Once the analysis is complete, a rating is given to the silk plants according to their performance in the test.

Importance of fire retardant silk plants

It is very important to select silk trees that are made of fire retardant silk fabric. The branches of silk plants are generally made of plastic and polyester. Plastic can burn very easily after catching fire and also polyester fabric is inclined to ignition. So, if a fire spreads, silk plants made from fabrics that are not resistant to fire are prone to burn. To avoid such damage, you can opt for artificial trees and plants that are manufactured using high quality fire retardant silk fabric. So, if you are thinking of buying decorative artificial plants, go for fire retardant silk plants and trees.