Are Sponges Poisonous?

Some sponges are poisonous. Those that are soft and colourful are likely to be poisonous chemicals.

The commonly used sponge is made of foamed plastic polymer, and the recycled sponge is a new type of product, which is mainly formed by crushing, stirring, and high-temperature sterilization of glue steam. Its advantages are good elasticity, good resistance, no odor, and the production cost is lower than that of ordinary sponges.

Why do sponges catch fire so badly? Ordinary sponges are actually not very easy to catch fire, and the combustion of sponges requires the presence of heat and oxygen to occur. The sponge will not burn unless it encounters an open flame. For example, an unextinguished cigarette butt falls on the sponge. Under the action of high temperature, the sponge is easily melted, wrapping the cigarette butt, so that the cigarette butt is isolated from the air and extinguished. But the sponge is still very easy to catch fire under the action of an open flame. There are a lot of pores in the sponge. The lower the density of the sponge, the higher the porosity, the lower the ignition point, and the easier it is to catch fire. The pores in the sponge are equivalent to expanding the contact area between the fuel and the air. Therefore, the sponge burns faster and at a higher temperature than ordinary materials. What’s more serious is that after the sponge catches fire, the smoke emitted by the sponge also contains toxic gases. Common sponges in the market include polyurethane type, polyethylene type and polystyrene type. When these types of sponges are burned, they will release toxic gases containing cyanide, carbon or benzene, and the human body will suffocate quickly after excessive inhalation.

From the material point of view, the recycled sponge is synthesized from sponge scraps. The properties of the base material are similar to those of ordinary sponges, and the ignition characteristics should be similar.