CORK

Material
What it is?
 Different kind of
oak/daluro/punong
tapon:
1. Cork oak- primary source of
cork used as bottle stoppers.
It is native to southwest Europe and northwestAfrica.
 WHAT IS CORK?
Cork is the bark of the Cork Oak tree
(Quercus suber L). It is a completely
natural raw material, with unique
properties which give it an
unrivalled character. It is light,
impermeable to liquids and gases,
elastic and compressible, provides
thermal and acoustic insulation, it
is a fire retardant and highly
abrasion-resistant. Furthermore, it
is completely biodegradable,
renewable and recyclable.
Chemical composition of cork:
suberin (45%) - main component
of the cell walls, responsible
for the elasticity of the cork;
lignin (27%) - insulating
compound;
polysaccharides (12%) -
components of the cell walls
that help define the texture of
the cork;
tannins (6%) - polyphenolic
compounds responsible for the
colour;
seroids (5%) - hydrophobic
compounds that guarantee the
impermeability of the cork.
 Other information (harvest)
The first two harvests the virgin cork and secundeira cork
, as well as that removed from the base of the tree, becomes
the raw material for insulation, flooring and products for areas
as diverse as construction, fashion, design, health, energy
production and the aerospace industry.
It takes each cork oak 25 years before it can be stripped for
the first time and it is only from the third stripping (at 43
years of age) that the cork, then known as amadia, has the
high standard of quality required for producing cork stoppers.
 More information
The cork is harvested by specialised professionals, always
between May and August, when the tree is at its most active
phase of growth and it is easier to strip without damaging the
trunk. The cork oak is the only tree whose bark regenerates,
acquiring a smoother texture following each harvest. Over the
course of its lifetime, which on average lasts 200 years, it
may be stripped around 17 times.
The cork industry is generally regarded as environmentally
friendly . Cork production is generally considered sustainable
because the cork tree is not cut down to obtain cork; only the
bark is stripped to harvest the cork. The tree continues to
live and grow.
characteristics of cork
VERY LIGHT
Over 50% of its volume is
air, which makes it very
light - it weighs just 0.16
grams per cubic centimetre
and can float. ELASTIC AND COMPRESSIBLE
It is the only solid which,
when compressed on one
side, does not increase in
volume on another; and as a
result of its elasticity it
is able to adapt, for
example, to variations in
temperature and pressure
without suffering
alterations.
IMPERMEABLE TO LIQUIDS AND GASES
Thanks to the suberin and
ceroids contained in the cell
walls, cork is practically
impermeable to liquids and
gases. Its resistance to
moisture enables it to age
without deteriorating. THERMAL AND ACOUSTIC INSULATOR
Cork has low conductivity to
heat, noise and vibration. This
is because the gaseous
components contained in cork are
enclosed in small impermeable
compartments, isolated from each
other by a moisture-resistant
substance.
USES and APPLICATIONS
-Cork's elasticity combined with
its near-impermeability makes it -Cork is also an essential
suitable as a material for element in the production of
bottle stoppers, especially for badminton shuttlecocks.
wine bottles. Cork stoppers
represent about 60% of all cork
-Sheets of cork, also often the
based production.
by-product of stopper
production, are used to make
bulletin boards as well as
floor and wall tiles.
-Cork's low density makes it a suitable
material for fishing floats and buoys,
as well as handles for fishing rods
(as an alternative to neoprene).
-Cork can be used to make bricks for
the outer walls of houses, as in
Portugal's pavilion at Expo 2000.
 architecture
One of the most recent successes was the
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, currently
part of the private collection of
renowned international collectors Usha
and Lakshmi N. Mittal. The project, by
architects Herzog & de Meuron and Chinese
artist Ai Weiwei, is surprising for its
creativity and for the fact that they
used a raw material so interesting and
mysterious that few people really know
what it is, says Jacques Herzog.
 design
Cork has remarkable appeal. As
in London, the curiosity
aroused by cork moves
thousands of people all over
the world. In China, for
example, the impact of the
Portuguese Pavilion at
Shanghai Expo, built entirely
of cork, was mind-blowing.
Likewise in Gaud's Sagrada
Famlia in Barcelona; in the
Leonardo da Vinci Museum in
Milan; in the Nezu Museum in
Tokyo; in the Cape Town
Stadium and in so many other
cases where cork combines so
well and innovatively with
other materials.
 State of the art
technology
For example in cars - inside the Mercedes F700
prototype, cork as fine as leather was applied
-, for the interior components for buses, in
high speed trains and in airplanes.

It also plays an important role in building

bridges and motorways, in power generation,
railways, dams and airports. Also in pollution
control, whether it is integrated into
absorbents for oils, hydrocarbons or organic
solvents, or projected as granules by
compressed air to renovate monuments and the
facades of buildings.
 sources
http://www.amorim.com/en/why-cork
https://pediaview.com/openpedia/Cork_(material)#Harvesting
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Cork.html