Abstract

One of the most common materials to be used as cores of sandwich structures is polymeric foam. Due to an increasing effort to reduce the environmental impact of industrial processes, there is a great interest in the incorporation of natural materials from renewable sources to facilitate the reusing and recycling of the structures. One of the possibilities for replacing polymeric foams in sandwich structures is agglomerated cork, due to its good mechanical properties. However, for this material to be used as a core, it is necessary to know its behaviour under impact loads, both at low and high velocities.

In this work, the behaviour of a commercial PVC foam is compared with agglomerated corks of several densities. The force, displacement, absorbed energy and perforation velocity have been analysed. The behaviour of the agglomerated cork can be similar to that of a conventional polymeric foam, although with an increase in weight. However, it has been shown that agglomerated cork can be a better alternative to polymeric foams in those applications that may be subjected to several successive impacts.