Materials for Design

Cork

When science fiction writers of the 1960s envisaged the future they probably didn’t bargain on cork, which is extracted from bark and has been used for thousands of years, still occupying a strong position as a high-tech material in the early part of the twentyfirst century. Incredibly, this tree peel has been used in space shuttles due to its thermal insulation properties; it protects the fuel tanks on re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, a function that is the result of 1 cm (⅜ in) of cork containing 40,000,000 cells of air.

In our intensive investigation and our ingenuity in forming new materials we are ultimately attempting to emulate nature. Cork is one of the many natural and rapidly renewable resources that have become prominent ...