Effect of Different Boiling Treatments on Physical Properties of Cork from Quercus variabilis

Effects of different boiling treatments were evaluated relative to various physical properties of cork from Quercus variabilis before and after treatment, including volume, density, hardness, compression resilience ratio, and color. The boiling water treatment decreased the density, hardness, and lightness of cork. Water absorption amount of cork boiled at 100 °C for 30 min to180 min increased from 28.85% to 52.50%, and expansion in the radial direction was 15.4% to 19.5%. The total color difference (ΔE*) of cork gradually increased with increased boiling time. The values of the compression resilience ratio of all corks after a pressure release at 24 h were >80%. Cork samples boiled at 100 °C for 60 min, and then dried under different temperatures (140 °C to 240 °C), had volume expansion between 35.6% and 65.3%. With increased drying temperature, the ΔE* of cork increased. Cork boiled at 100 °C for 60 min followed by microwave irradiation of different times (2 min to 8 min) had volume expansion of 39.7% to 54.5%. Microwave treatment had little influence on cork color. The sodium hydroxide solution boiling treatment decreased cork lightness, while the hydrogen peroxide-treated cork lightness increased with the increasing of solution concentration, and ΔE* slightly increased.