St Louis, Missouri -- For those wishing to decorate open areas unsuitable for real vegetation with highly realistic artificial trees, Chemline has launched a flexible polyurea resin, Chemthane 7070, to make artificial tree bark.
"If you have an application where real trees won't survive, they weigh too much or simply won't fit through the door, Chemthane 7070 offers an attractive alternative," said John Henningsen of Chemline, in a company statement.
Fabricators, contractors and building owners can used the spray-in-mould elastomeric polyurea, with high elongation and hardness formulations ranging from 75-85 Shore D, to produce an imitation bark, in moulds taken from real trees. Chemline says the 1:1 mix, 100 percent solids product is environmentally benign, containing no solvents or styrene.
With various moulding compounds, users can replicate any tree species: "the moulding process captures even the slightest surface details of the real tree bark," Chemline said.
The artificial bark uses a lightweight, flexible polymer and can be used by licensed fabricators to produce large sheets of bark 3 -12 mm thick, and offers an "easy-to-use, extremely realistic way of producing durable artificial tree bark to decorate or theme a retail store, restaurant, museum or entertainment facility," Chemline said.
Compared to sculpting or moulded fiberglass or Shotcrete, the material offers numerous advantages, claims the company. Most notably, it is quicker and easier to install, and adaptable to all sizes/shapes and diameters of tree structures, such as poles and beams."
"Even on close inspection, the colouring and surface texture is so precise that even an expert might find it difficult to tell if it's real or fake," commented a US National Park Ranger, on seeing a tree made with Chemthane 7070.
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