Everything about Cork Material totally explained
Cork material is a prime-subset of generic
cork tissue, harvested for commercial use primarily from the
Cork Oak tree,
Quercus suber, with
Portugal producing 50% of cork worldwide. Cork consists mostly of
suberin.
Cork's
elasticity combined with its near-impermeability makes it suitable as a material for
bottle stoppers, especially for
wine bottles. Cork stoppers represent about 60% of all cork based production. 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 is used in musical instruments, particularly
woodwind instruments, where it's used to fasten together segments of the instrument, making the seams airtight. Sheets of cork, often the by-product of more lucrative stopper production, are used to make
floor tiles and
bulletin boards. Granules of cork can also be mixed into
concrete. The composites made by mixing cork granules and cement have low thermal conductivity, low density and good energy absorption. Some of the property ranges of the composites are density (400–1500 kg/m³), compressive strength (1–26 MPa) and flexural strength (0.5–4.0 MPa).
The cork industry is generally regarded as environmentally friendly. The
sustainability of production and the easy
recycling of cork products and by-products are two of its most distinctive aspects. However, only one leading company, Oeneo Bouchage of France has conducted and released its complete carbon footprint study, the first in the industry.
Cork demand has increased due to more
wine being sealed with cork rather than being sold in bulk. Since a tree's
bark can only be harvested six to nine years hence, supply is highly
inelastic. Top quality corks are expensive, and no matter what the cost, have the risk of containing TCA
Cork taint and are susceptible to random oxidation due to their mechanical variability. Many cheaper brands have switched to lower quality cork, synthetic
plastic stoppers,
screwcaps, or other closures. Because synthetic stoppers don't dry out and shrink, wine bottles with synthetic corks don't have to be stored on their sides to prevent
oxidizing. Cork contamination with harmless but foul-smelling
trichloroanisole (TCA) is one of the primary causes of
cork taint in wine.
As late as the mid 1600s,
French vintners didn't use cork stoppers, using oil-soaked rags stuffed into the necks of bottles instead.
Cork has been used in rocket technology due to its fire resistance. Cork can be used as bricks for the outer walls of houses, as in Portugal's pavilion at
Expo 2000. On
November 28,
2007, the Portuguese national postal service
CTT issued the world's first
postage stamp made of cork.
The Cork Oak is unrelated to the "cork trees" (
Phellodendron), which have corky bark but are not used for cork production.
Cork was used by
Robert Hooke as he discovered and named the cell.
Further Information
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