Material Study: CorkDesign research and proposal for a

senior capstone projectby Meng-Ting Lee

A final deliverable for IDES 431 Design Theory + Capstone Fall 2012

coordinated by Jason Lempieri and Jonas Milder

Industrial Design Programhttp://www.id-uarts.org

School for DesignCollege of Art, Media, and Design

© 2012

University of the Arts320 South Broad StreetPhiladelphia PA 19102

http://uarts.edu

Cork comes from the bark of the cork oak, a type of oak lives in Mediterranean Basin area and has average two hundred years lifespan.

People harvested the cork oak for cork instead cutting the tree down. Cork oak will grow the bark back again after nine years and people will harvest again by the time is ready.

Cork

All the barks will send to cork factories and go through the manufacturing process.

A machine that punches round metal tube through barks.

The cylinder part will be used for wine stopper. The byproducts will cut into tiny granules and to be made into other cork products.

Cork products can also be recycled after people not longer them. Some companies such as Amorim, the world leader in cork product in Portugal, does cork wine stopper recycle. They are taking the recycle cork wine stoppers back to factory, cut it into granules and re-form into either another wine stopper or cork sheet or cork board.

Recycle

In United States, Cork Forest Conservation Alliance also recycle cork wine stopper. They place recycle buckets in every Whole Food Market and they granulate the recycle cork and make new cork product.

Cork has been used for wine stopper for many centuries, but not many products use cork. Until the recent decades, people started to care about our bodies and environment. People started to use the material which is less harmful to human body and environment. Therefore, Cork has become one of the popular material.

Material Research

Harmful to HUMAN BODY Harmful to ENVIRONMENT

Toxic Non-biodegradablePVCHeavy Metal

Fraction PlasticWoodMetalGlass

Physical (Cut) MetalGlass

Steel- 100 yearsAluminum- 350 yearsPlastic- 400-450 yearsGlass- NeverPolystyrene foam- NeverTires- Never

Wood/ PaperGasoline

Greenhouse effect

Air pollution Burning Plastic (toxic)Metal (fraction)Wood/ paper (fraction)

Planting Lack of trees will cost Desertification

Cork Cork

Cork properties Low density Low thermal conductivity Water resistant Compressed Chemically inert

Wood

Metal

Glass

Plastic

Cork Properties

Low density

Compressed

Water resistant

Renewable

Chemically inert

Low thermal conductivity

Properties and Products

Other than cork wine stopper, there are many products and parts of product are made by cork such as shuttlecocks, fishing floats, fishing rod handle, conducting baton handles, shoes, spacecraft heat shields and paper pick-up mechanisms in inkjet and laser printer. Also, some designers see cork has good compress ability and use it to make furniture.

Innvironments In Wallcoverings, Inc.New York, USA

Innvironments Cork Wallcoverings

Naturtex s.lSpain

Naturtex A-1462 E-1836/L

Villani LeonelloItaly

31R10 55R10 Col. 2 16R10 571R10

Intext USANew York, USA

Cork Wallpaper

F.J.HAKIMIAN, Inc.New York, USA

AR-WoodlandAR Sauvignon AR-Oak

Some manufacturer combine cork with other material to create a new material. The new material usually much durable and stiffer than cork , but also contain cork’s low thermal conductivity, compress ability and/or low density property.

Thin Sheet

New Cork Material

Fire Wear UVWater Scratch Tear Stain

Resistance

Thermal ConductivityChemical

High

Medium

Low

N/A

Natural Cork Inc.Georgia, USA

Expanko CorkPennsylvania, USA

To MarketOklahoma, USA

Globus CorkNew York, USA

Capri CorkPennsylvania, USA

Eco Supply CenterVirginia, USA

Cork Artistico Vallarex Cork

UnicorkNatural Cork Parquet TileSuberra

Cor-Terra Rigato Collection

Rudolf Rost Sperrholz GmbHGermany

Freund GmbHGermany

Eco Technilin SASFrance

KorkbaumrindaPolyvan 31

FibriCork

Amorim Revestimentos S.APortugal

A.P.I Applicazioni Plastiche Industriali SpAItaly

APINT CK series (with cork) Acousticork NRT Xtreme WRT Floating Floor

Board

Fire Wear UVWater Scratch Tear Stain

Resistance

Thermal ConductivityChemical

High

Medium

Low

N/A

Cork and metal are two very different materials. Unlike plastic has many similar properties with cork, metal and cork have only one same property witch is water resistant. Combining cork and metal is going to have metal’s stiffness property and also contain cork’s compress ability and low thermal conductivity properties. Also, it will also prevent electric shock if metal is sandwiched by cork.

Cork

Metal

LOW density

HIGH density

COMPRESS ABILITY

STIFF

LOW thermal conductivity

HIGH thermal conductivity

Water resistant

Water resistant

Cork-Metal

Cork - Metal - Cork Cork - Metal Metal - Cork - Metal

Polyvan 31

Rudolf Rost Sper-rholz GmbHGermany

Alpimet

Alpi Divisione Legno SpAItaly

SERIES 5000-B Empreinte Eulithe Aluminum

Firestone Metal Products, LLC.USA

Lamellux®France

EULITHE srlItaly

Laminate material in the world

Project Timeline

Week 1 Find companies than can possibly produce this new material

Week 2 Research

Week 3 If no company makes it, make it by myself

Week 4 Test the new material Week 5 Find out what product can be made/ Test

Week 6 Find out what product can be made/ Test

Week 7 Find out what product can be made/ Test

Week 8 Make prototypes

Week 9 Make prototypes

Week 10 Make prototypes

Week 11 Make prototypes

Week 12 Make prototypes

To Do List:

- Visit Daniel Michalik Furniture Design studio- Visit Metal factories- Revisit Material Connexion if need

Bibliography

Amorim- Cork Americahttp://www.amorimca.com/

Cork Forest Conservation Alliancehttp://www.corkforest.org/real_cork_inside.php

ReCorkhttp://recork.org/

Coral Reef Alliancehttp://www.coral.org/node/3916

The Engineering ToolBoxhttp://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html

Material Connexionhttp://www.materialconnexion.com/

Designboomhttp://www.designboom.com/

Daniel Michalik Furniture Designhttp://danielmichalik.com/

Alucobond Alucorehttp://www.transport-industry.com/home.html

ALPIhttp://www.alpiwood.com/en/