Virgin Natural Cork Characterization as a Sustainable Material for Use in Acoustic Solutions

Juan Miguel Barrigón Morillas,Pedro Atanasio Moraga,Rosendo Vílchez-Gómez,Rubén Maderuelo-Sanz,Valentín Gómez Escobar,Guillermo Rey Gozalo,David Montes González

doi:10.3390/su13094976

Juan Miguel Barrigón Morillas, Pedro Atanasio Moraga + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094976

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Apr 29, 2021
Citations: 7	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Extremadura

Abstract

A characterization of the sound absorption of a sustainable material with scarce current use such as natural virgin cork is presented in this paper in order to explore further possible applications in the design of acoustic solutions. Different samples of virgin cork not bonded and various decorative panel formats were tested under random sound incidence conditions in a standardized reverberation chamber. The samples in which the outer bark of the cork was facing upwards showed a better behavior as an acoustic absorber, with sound absorption coefficient values generally greater than 0.6 for frequency bands between 1 and 5 kHz. The results obtained were compared with samples of some recycled materials available in the scientific literature, such as sheep wool and PET.

Highlights

Global warming and sustainable management of the planet’s resources are two major challenges facing society today
Samples S1, S2, and S3 of natural virgin cork were tested to obtain the different sound absorption coefficients
Different samples of virgin cork not bonded were tested under random sound incidence conditions in a standardized reverberation chamber according to ISO 354

Summary

Introduction

Global warming and sustainable management of the planet’s resources are two major challenges facing society today. Some acoustic properties of a biomaterial that usually ends up either discarded or reused, but after the addition of petroleum-based binders, are analyzed in this work. This is virgin cork, the bark of the cork oak tree is extracted for the first time. The cork oak (Quercus suber L.) is a typical tree of the Mediterranean basin, cultivated due to the use of its bark for cork production. Cork oak forests are a model of agricultural exploitation, in which the tree must remain alive for the cork extraction (and, fixing carbon). A forest can be managed in what is known as a “Dehesa”

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