Response of cork compounds subjected to impulsive blast loads

High-energy impact testing of agglomerated cork at extremely low and high temperatures

“…Cork is a closed-cell material with a solid volume fraction of approximately 15% of its total volume [6]. The solid volume ratio is smaller than the volume occupied by gas, which explains its lightness [7].…”

Cork Core Sandwich Plates for Blast Protection

“…Numerical models should accurately replicate the physics of the problem and accurately predict experimental observations and measurements. The experimental results include the impulse transmitted to the ballistic pendulum and the final deflection of the sandwich skins [9,10].…”

“…Sanchez-Saez et al [8] quantified the increase of absorbed energy due to the inclusion of cork in a sandwich panel, under high velocity ballistic impacts. Sousa Martins et al [9,10] explored the use of agglomerated cork compounds as sandwich cores under blast loading, reporting on experimental results and analyses that support the observation that cork is a highly efficient energy absorbing material. Therefore, factoring in that it is a fully bio-degradable material, cork is a good candidate to be used as a liner or core in structural components, without significantly increasing their weight.…”

“…The work here presented extends this into the dynamic regimes, by exploring and analysing the blast response of sandwich panels with aluminium skins and agglomerated cork cores. Numerical simulations of blast are performed and validated while using the experimental data available from a previous work of the authors [9,10]. The proposed models are shown to be crucial in the understanding of the kinematic response of sandwich plates to blast loads.…”