Innovative Cardboard Components for Architecture: Methodologies for Performances and Durability Assessment

The need to make contemporary buildings more sustainable, inclusive and safe has highlighted the possibilities offered by “green” materials. Among these, corrugated cardboard material stands out, given its possibility to be used within innovative prefabricated components for the building envelope, characterized by a low cost and a low environmental impact. ARCHICART technology is based on the patented PACOTEC panel, an innovative prefabricated corrugated cardboard panel for interior partition walls and envelope applications. The panel, designed to be dry-assembled on site, is made up of corrugated cardboard box-shaped profiles glued together and covered with a continuous double sheet corrugated cardboard. ARCHICART technology has previously been the subject of an experimental campaign focused on its mechanical and thermal performances assessment. This contribution reports the main objectives and phases of a new project, aimed at the attainment of European Technical Assessment (ETA) document, mandatory for the performances’ declaration of products for which there is no harmonized standard. Indeed, the novelty of the product require an in-depth study of the component performance over time through an experimental evaluation. So, particular attention must be paid to the durability of ARCHICART cardboard components. For this reason, an analysis of the state-of-the-art on the methodologies for accelerated aging tests on building components is herein reported. In the second part of the manuscript, a tailored aging protocol for ARCHICART panels is defined on the base of multi-year weather data files. The proposed protocol aims to mediate the need to accelerate the aging cycle, therefore increasing the severity of the degradation agents and their frequency over time, with the need to test the hygrothermal behavior of the components under real operating conditions. ds; justified between the margins and using the font/size specified below.