Physical and Mechanical Properties of Water Permeable Cork Paving Materials

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Cork granules are by-products after the production of various cork products, such as wine stoppers, and are considered as a valuable resource because of their good elasticity and slip resistance. In this study, the applicability of cork granules as paving materials for walkways and children's playgrounds was investigated. Cork granules with various particle sizes from 1 mm to 8 mm were obtained from Portuguese cork oak (Quercus suber). As a result of manufacturing cork paving materials with a thickness of 15 mm, their tensile strength was found to be 0.5 MPa or more. However, the tensile properties of the paving material made only with cork granules with a particle size smaller than 2 mm were less than 0.2 MPa. Furthermore, other physical properties of cork paving materials such as shock absorption, sliding resistance, and vertical deformation were all suitable for human activity. As a result of surface temperature measurement by a thermal imaging camera in summer, it was found that the cork paving material was more effective in alleviating the heat island phenomenon compare to the rubber one.