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Cork Cells
Cork under the microscope
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Cork cells are minute, irregular pentagonal or hexagonal prisms.
The cell height rarely exceeds 50 micrometers but decreases to 20 to 10 micrometers in the last cork bark formed in the autumn.
Notice the scale: the white bar is 50 micrometers long.
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Copyright 2002 by APCOR. |
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Cork cells (1)
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Cork consists of a tight web of up to 40 million cells per cubic centimetre.
The cell membranes are filled an air-like gas, giving cork its unique capacity to float, insulate and re-expand quickly after compression.
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Copyright 2002 by APCOR. |
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Cork cells (2)
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50 per cent of cork is an air-like gas enclosed in the cork cells. Suberin makes the cork cell membrane impermeable and the cell airtight.
Cork retains unique qualities of flexibility, elasticity and compressibility.
Its extreme resilience, impermeability, lightness and insulating efficiency make it ideal for a large number of applications.
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Copyright 2002 by APCOR. |
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Cork cells - after boiling
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Before they are boiled as part of the cork stopper manufacturing process, the cells in a plank of natural cork are wrinkled and collapsed. After one hour of boiling, the gas in the cork cells expands and creates a very tight, more uniform cell structure.
This picture, taken with an electronic microscope at CTCOR, shows clearly the improvement in the structure of cork after boiling.
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Copyright 2002 by APCOR. |
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Suberin walls of cork cells
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Suberin walls of cork cells. This greatly magnified picture looks deep into the detail of a cork cell. The image was taken using an electronic microscope at CTCOR. It shows clearly the way cork cells form a tight web.
Suberin, a mixture of fatty acids and heavy organic alcohols, is one of the basic components of cork.
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Copyright 2002 by APCOR. |
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