Objective
The project aims at the improvement of the performance and quality of cork stoppers and simultaneously at a rationalization of design and production in an attempt to reduce costs. To achieve this it is required to understand properly the performance of a stopper. Performance depends on a complex combination of factors which will be identified and quantified in the project, allowing for the definition of quality grades for stoppers. Since the quality of a stopper is strongly dependent on that of the cork boards from which it is made, the question of cork quality will also be included in the project, and quantitative methods to evaluate quality grades will be developed. The proper design of stoppers and the treatments to which they are submitted will also be investigated. There will be a constant preoccupation in quantifying the parameters and properties on which the quality of stoppers and of cork depend, so that quality control in industry can be made on an automatic basis leading to reliable results.
The methodology can be summarized as follows. After identifying the factors affecting the performance of cork stoppers, various properties and structural aspects relevant to performance will be quantitatively evaluated. These include mostly various mechanical properties (friction between cork and glass, compression and stress relaxation behaviour), absorption of liquids and quality of cork. The design of stoppers (shape and size) and the methods used in their production and introduction in the bottles will be treated as parameters that may affect performance and will therefore be investigated. The results of the whole project will be tested industrially, both in factors concerning the design of stoppers and the methods to be implemented for the evaluation of the quality of cork and stoppers.
The project therefore covers a variety of research topics from relatively fundamental ones to totally applied ones. The more fundamental research is necessary because very little work of this nature has been done in the past. The present knowledge of stopper performance is essentially empirical and even the design of stoppers has developed on an empirical basis.
These studies comprise:
Identification of factors affecting the performance of cork stoppers.
Measurement of properties related to the performance of cork stoppers:
humidity of cork stoppers;
compression, stress relaxation and pressure on the bottle neck;
friction between cork and glass;
absorption of liquids, leakage in the stopper neck interface.
The extraction of cork stoppers:
the indentation by a cork screw, force of extraction;
effects of torsion in extraction;
fracture due to extraction.
Detection and quantitive evaluation of defects in stoppers and cork boards. Repercussion on performance:
lenticular channels (usually termed porosity);
wet cork;
nails;
furrows (cracks).
The cutting and mechanical surface finish operations of cork stoppers.
Effect of shape, size and introduction methods on stopper performance.
Surface treatments of cork stoppers.
Stoppers from lower quality cork boards. Recovery of cork stoppers.
Quantitive evaluation of cork stopper quality. Definition of quality.
Cork quality and price:
quantitive evaluation of cork quality and definition of quality;
humidity charts for cork.
Industrial implementation.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Data not available
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Data not available
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
1049-001 LISBOA
Portugal
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.