Cork is a material which has been used for mankind for the last 5,000 years and it is a strategic material used for multiple applications, from wine bottles to aeronautics. Many of current cork materials are composites, in particular cork materials for floor and wall coverings and several other building and industrial applications. Recent developments in cork research have shifted from the classical cork-wine relationship to quality and environmental issues, exploitation of cork industry residues and new cork based materials. In recent years a number of new cork based composite materials were developed.

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The experiments carried out in this investigation were oriented in order to optimize the properties of cork-based agglomerates as an ideal core material for sandwich components of lightweight structures, such as those used in aerospace applications. Static bending tests were performed in order to characterize the mechanical strength of different types of cork agglomerates which were obtained considering distinct production variables. The ability to withstand dynamic loads was also evaluated from a set of impact tests using carbon-cork sandwich specimens. The results got from experimental tests revealed that cork agglomerates performance essentially depends on the cork granule size, its density and the bonding procedure used for the cohesion of granulates, and these parameters can be adjusted in function of the final application intended for the sandwich component. These results also allow inferring that optimized cork agglomerates have some specific properties that confirm their superior ability as a core material of sandwich components when compared with other conventional materials.

neural networks (i.e. multilayer perceptron (MLP) and fuzzy ARTMAP) it was found 27 that it is possible to determine the time elapsed in relation to the degradation of the loin 28 by using simple potentiometric measurements. Additionally, in the same pork sample 29 used to measure redox potentials with the electronic tongue, the following parameters 30 were also determined; pH, microbial count, concentrations of inosine 5'-monophosphate 31 (IMP), inosine (Ino) and hypoxanthine (Hx). Through the use of PLS analysis, it was 32 found a rather good correlation between pH and the potentiometric data. Also a 33 remarkable correlation was observed between the measures carried out with the 34 electronic tongue and the so-called K-index that simultaneously measures the variation 35 in the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) degradation products. These results suggest that 36 this simple, or a similar electronic tongue, could be useful for the undemanding 37 qualitative or semi-quantitative evaluation of freshness in meat samples in a wide range 38 of situations. 39