The world has had a love affair with cork ever since early man discovered that the bark of the tree Quercus Suber floats and bobbles when there’s a fish on the other end of the line. In the 20th Century that inexhaustible bark is working miracles as an all-purpose problem solver in boundless space-age applications.
If someone were to invent an extremently compressible yet resilient substance, one possessing extraordinary insulation and ablative/fire-retardant properties – a versatile “wonder product” highly-resistant to wear-and-tear, majestically indifferent to extremes of temperature, impervious to sounds and seepage, warm to sight and touch, varied and attractive in texture and appearance, lightweight and buoyant and, best of all, virtually indestructible, it would be called … CORK… But fortunately, no one has to invent Cork…it grows on trees.
In an age of synthetics and diminishing natural resources, cork keeps growing on trees, replenishing the world’s supply. And what nature designed, the cork industry now refines in natural, composition, granulated or cork/rubber combinations – tailor-made in all shapes: slabs, blocks, sheets, rolls, grain, turnings, in sizes to meet the most critical needs.
Everyone knows the important role cork has played, since Greek and Roman times, as the world’s wine sealant par excellence: stacked on top of another, the industry’s yearly production of approximately 6.5 billion corks would reach 156,000 miles – three quarters of the way to the moon or more than 650,000 Empire State Buildings into space.
Cork can provide the answer to your problems:
- Buoyancy – light weight. Because 50% of its volume is captive air, cork has a specific gravity of only 0.25, four times lighter than water.
- Compressibility. “More elastic than plastic,” cork can be subjected to over 10,000 pounds per cubic inch and return to nearly its original shape within 24 hours. Like a squeezed toy balloon its tiny air-filled cells bounce back when released.
- Resistance to moisutre and liquid penetrability. Cork – collar rather than fibrous in composition – is less permeable to water than is wood.
- Frictional qualities. Exposed cork cells form tiny suction cups resulting in high coefficient of friction surpassing both leather and rubber. An ideal polishing medium.
- Low thermal conductivity. The captive air in cork cells makes it a natural insulator with a K Factor as low as 0.26. Fire-retardant (only the surface chars) it gives off no cyanides, chlorides, or other toxic gases.
- Ability to absorb vibration and sound. The “air cushion” of cork enables it to absorb the former and deaden the latter.
- Stability. Tough and durable, cork retains all its properties almost indefinitely.