Testing Joints of Air and Vapour Barriers, Do We Use Relevant Testing Methods?

This article describes testing of peel and shear resistance and airtightness of joints of air and vapour barrier systems before and after artificial aging. The testing of peel and shear resistance was based on standardised methods while the test of airtightness was a method invented for this project. The results show that while peel and shear strength increased with aging, the airtightness was significantly reduced. As these two results seem to contradict each other, the methods are discussed, especially whether the standardised tests are too far from the conditions on site or joints should be tested on other materials as well. Furthermore, weaknesses in the airtightness method is also pointed out.