Abstract
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a material that is widely used in energy absorbing applications, especially in helmets, despite its non-renewable origin. Cork and its derivatives, however, are proposed as a substitute for polystyrene foam (EPS) due to their renewable origin and their easy recyclability. In spite of the low-environmental footprint of cork and its derivatives, there is insufficient data on their mechanical behaviour. Consequently, under dynamic and quasi-static loads, four different-density EPS, a natural cork material and five different cork products with different grain sizes and heat treatments were tested. They were compared in terms of their stress–strain and specific stress–strain curve, their volumetric capability to absorb energy, their specific energy, average decelerations and peak deceleration. Finally, EPS foams cannot recover their initial shape upon deformation due to their low resilience capability. This is especially important in applications such as helmets, which are bound to be subjected to multiple impacts. However, cork and its products could have this capability for resilience and would therefore be more suitable for certain applications.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anjos O, Rodrigues C, Morais J, Pereira H (2014) Effect of density on the compression behaviour of cork. Mater Des 53:1089–1096. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2013.07.038
Chen W, Hao H, Hughes D, Shi YC, Cui J, Li ZX (2015) Static and dynamic mechanical properties of expanded polystyrene. Mater Des 69:170–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2014.12.024
Coelho RM, Alves de Sousa RJ, Fernandes FAO, Teixeira-Dias F (2013) New composite liners for energy absorption purposes. Mater Des 43:384–392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2012.07.020
Crouvisier-Urion K, Bellat JP, Gougeon RD, Karbowiak T (2018) Mechanical properties of agglomerated cork stoppers for sparkling wines: Influence of adhesive and cork particle size. Compos Struct 203:789–796. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2018.06.116
de Sousa RA, Goncalves D, Coelho R, Teixeira-Dias F (2012) Assessing the effectiveness of a natural cellular material used as safety padding material in motorcycle helmets. Simul Trans Soc Model Simul Int 88(5):580–591. https://doi.org/10.1177/0037549711414735
de Vasconcelos IGCMS, Carvalho LH, Barbosa R, Alves TS (2019) Evaluation of the morphology, mechanical and thermal properties of cork and green polyethylene ecocomposites. Mater Res Express 6(9):095331. https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1591/ab33b8
Di Landro L, Sala G, Olivieri D (2002) Deformation mechanisms and energy absorption of polystyrene foams for protective helmets. Polym Test 21(2):217–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0142-9418(01)00073-3
Fernandes FAO, de Sousa RJA, Ptak M, Migueis G (2019) Helmet design based on the optimization of biocomposite energy-absorbing liners under multi-impact loading. Appl Sci 9(4):735. https://doi.org/10.3390/app9040735
Fernandes FAO, Jardin RT, Pereira AB, de Sousa RJA (2015) Comparing the mechanical performance of synthetic and natural cellular materials. Mater Des 82:335–341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2015.06.004
Gama N, Ferreira A, Barros-Timmons A (2019) 3D printed cork/polyurethane composite foams. Mater Des 179:107905. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2019.107905
Gibson LJ, Ashby MF (1997) Cellular solids: structures and properties. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139878326
Gimbel GM, Hoshizaki TB (2008) Compressive properties of helmet materials subjected to dynamic impact loading of various energies. Eur J Sport Sci 8(6):341–349. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461390802438763
Jardin RT, Fernandes FAO, Pereira AB, de Sousa RJA (2015) Static and dynamic mechanical response of different cork agglomerates. Mater Design 68:121–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2014.12.016
Kaké D, Temesgen E, Negussey D (2019) The Influence of Strain Rate on the Stress-Strain Behavior of EPS Geofoam. In: 5th International conference on geofoam blocks in construction applications, pp 161–169. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78981-1_13
Krundaeva A, De Bruyne G, Gagliardi F, Paeoegem WV (2016) Dynamic compressive strength and crushing properties of expanded polystyrene foam for different strain rates and different temperatures. Polym Test 55:61–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2016.08.005
Lagorce-Tachon A, Karbowiak T, Champion D, Gougeon RD, Bellat JP (2015) Mechanical properties of cork: effect of hydration. Mater Des 82:148–154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2015.05.034
Lei YZ, Zhou ST, Zou HW, Liang M (2015) Effect of crosslinking density on resilient performance of low-resilience flexible polyurethane foams. Polym Eng Sci 55(2):308–315. https://doi.org/10.1002/pen.23888
Menager C, Guigo N, Wu X, Vincent L, Sbirrazzuoli N (2019) “Green” composites prepared from polyfurfuryl alcohol and cork residues: thermal and mechanical properties. Compos Part A Appl Sci 124:105473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2019.105473
Moreira RAS, de Melo FJQ, Rodrigues FJD (2010) Static and dynamic characterization of composition cork for sandwich beam cores. J Mater Sci 45(12):3350–3360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-010-4356-0
Ouellet S, Cronin D, Worswick M (2006) Compressive response of polymeric foams under quasi-static, medium and high strain rate conditions. Polym Test 25(6):731–743. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2006.05.005
Parra C, Sanchez EM, Minano I, Benito F, Hidalgo P (2019) Recycled plastic and cork waste for structural lightweight concrete production. Sustainability 11(7):1876. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11071876
Pereira H (2007) Cork: Biology. Production and uses. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam
Sanchez-Saez S, Barbero E, Cirne J (2011) Experimental study of agglomerated-cork-cored structures subjected to ballistic impacts. Mater Lett 65(14):2152–2154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2011.04.083
Sanchez-Gonzalez M, Pérez-Terrazas D (2018) Dataset of mechanical properties from different types of wine stopper: micro-agglomerated cork, natural cork and synthetic. Data in brief 21:2103–2109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2018.11.051
Santos PT, Pinto S, Marques PAAP, Pereira AB, de Sousa RJA (2017) Agglomerated cork: a way to tailor its mechanical properties. Compos Struct 178:277–287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2017.07.035
Silva JM, Nunes CZ, Franco N, Gamboa PB (2011) Damage tolerant cork based composites for aerospace applications. Aeronaut J 115(1171):567–575. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001924000006205
Silva SP, Sabino MA, Fernandes EM, Correlo VM, Boesel LF, Reis RL (2013) Cork: properties, capabilities and applications. Int Mater Rev 50(6):345–365. https://doi.org/10.1179/174328005X41168
Tay YY, Lim CS, Lankarani HM (2014) A finite element analysis of high-energy absorption cellular materials in enhancing passive safety of road vehicles in side-impact accidents. Int J Crashworthiness 19(3):288–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/13588265.2014.893789
Versace J (1971) A review of the severity index. SAE Technical Paper 710881:1971. https://doi.org/10.4271/710881
Wilhelm J, Ptak M, Rusiński E (2017) Simulated depiction of head and brain injuries in the context of cellularbased materials in passive safety devices. Sci J Maritime Univ Szczecin 50(122):98–104. https://doi.org/10.17402/222
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Buil, R.M., Angulo, D.R., Ivens, J. et al. Experimental study of natural cork and cork agglomerates as a substitute for expanded polystyrene foams under compressive loads. Wood Sci Technol 55, 419–443 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00226-020-01254-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00226-020-01254-6