Expanded (Black) Cork for the Development of an Eco-Friendly Surfboard: Environmental Impact and Mechanical Properties

Abstract

Based on global needs for sustainable development, finding new sustainable materials that can replace oil-based ones for mass products is crucial nowadays. This paper focuses on employing an expanded cork-based composite to produce a surfboard. To evaluate the mechanical properties, uniaxial tensile and compression tests were performed on the skin and core materials, respectively. Bending tests were performed on the entire representative composite structure. Numerical models of the tests were arranged and validated from experimental results. From that, a surfboard prototype model was used to simulate some experimental conditions, permitting us to draw promising conclusions. An actual prototype was also produced. It was found that expanded cork performs very well when sandwiched between wood and polyester resin/glass fibre, being able to hold substantial loads and at the same time reduce weight and the environmental footprint of the composite by 62.8%. It can be concluded that expanded cork is an excellent candidate to replace oil-based foams in surfboard manufacturing. Despite a slight increase in weight, this sustainable material aligns with all the philosophies of surf practice worldwide.

Effects of Low-Velocity-Impact on Facesheet-Core Debonding of Natural-Core Composite Sandwich Structures—A Review of Experimental Research

“…This causes the cork cells to swell and release suberin, which acts as a binder to bond the granules together. It is typically used as thermal insulation for buildings but has a higher cost than synthetic materials like EPS and XPS [50].…”

Designing for Sustainability and Safety in Urban Micro-mobility: A Novel Helmet Concept

“…In order to obtain all the necessary data regarding all the variables, it was necessary to resort to a few different sources: the carbon footprint of the materials in KgCO 2 eq and the energy consumption, in KWh, of each of the manufacturing processes involved were extracted from the 2030 calculator (2030 Calculator, 2020); to convert the electrical consumption into GHG emissions, a formula given by Carbonfund (Carbonfund, 2021) was used; since there are few data available regarding the carbon footprint of white cork agglomerate, the values obtained by Sierra-Pérez et al (Sierra-Pérez et al, 2016) in their study were used as a reference; lastly, the work from Correia (Correia et al, 2022) was used as a reference to obtain the GHG emission values regarding the machining of cork with a CNC.…”

An Experimental Investigation of the Mechanical Performance of EPS Foam Core Sandwich Composites Used in Surfboard Design

“…As it is not uncommon for regular recreational surfers to purchase two to three new boards each year, the short functional life of PU boards and the rapid changes in board trends have caused concerns to arise with the growth of the sport [ 22 ]. In response, much of the available surfboard material literature is heavily focused on reviewing composites with sustainable fabric reinforcements [ 20 , 22 , 23 ] and foam replacements [ 24 , 25 ]. Despite the importance of sustainable materials, the strength of the constructions investigated to date does not compare with standard PU constructions and introduces excessive weight problems during full-scale board production.…”

“…This leads to complications during the hand layup and vacuum bagging process and dramatically increased the weight of their finished boards. Michelena et al found their PU/flax/epoxy surfboard increased the weight by 25% compared to a standard PU/S-glass/polyester surfboard [ 23 , 24 ].…”