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Cork as a building material: a review

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Abstract

This review focuses on cork as a natural, renewable and sustainable construction raw-material. Cork has an unusual combination of properties making it suitable for application in buildings and infrastructures, for example insulation, wear-resistance and durability. The material properties combined with a favourable ecological footprint allow designers, architects and engineers to meet some of the Green Building demands. A summary on cork production, structure, chemistry and properties was made. The processing into cork-based products, for example cork agglomerates and composites, is detailed as well as their properties and applications in construction. The aptitude of cork-based products for compliance with sustainability and energy efficiency criteria is also addressed.

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Acknowledgments

Centro de Estudos Florestais is a research unit supported by the national funding of FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (UID/AGR/00239/2013). Funding from FCT is acknowledged by the first author with a post-doctoral Grant (SFRH/BPD/76101/2011) and a doctoral Grant for the second author (SFRH/BD/77550/2011).

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  1. Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Sofia Knapic, Vanda Oliveira & Helena Pereira

  2. Núcleo de Comportamento de Estruturas, Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil, Lisbon, Portugal

    José Saporiti Machado

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  1. Sofia Knapic
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  2. Vanda Oliveira
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Correspondence to Sofia Knapic.

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Knapic, S., Oliveira, V., Machado, J.S. et al. Cork as a building material: a review. Eur. J. Wood Prod. 74, 775–791 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-016-1076-4

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