ISO 12572 is the international standard on the hygrothermal performance of building materials and products that allows the movement of heat and moisture through buildings.
ISO 12572 specifies a method based on cup tests for determining the water vapour permeance of building products and the water vapour permeability of building materials under isothermal conditions.
Different sets of test conditions are specified.
The general principles are applicable to all hygroscopic and non-hygroscopic building materials and products, including insulation materials and including those with facings and integral skins. Annexes give details of test methods suitable for different material types.
The results obtained by this method are suitable for design purposes, production control and for inclusion in product specifications.
ISO 12572 on hygrothermal performance of building materials and products is useful for:
Water vapour properties are vital to demonstrate the significance of various corrections on the measured water vapour permeability or permeance of various commonly used building materials or components.
ISO 12572 provides the apparatus requirements to design cups suitable for testing various different types of materials.
ISO 12572 specifies the general principles for the preparation of test specimens including dimensions, number and conditioning and testing low resistance of specimens.
ISO 12572 navigates you through the procedure, preparation of specimen and test assembly as well as an arrangement of balance and test assemblies for weighing procedures in a chamber.
Calculation and expression of results for each set of successive weighing of the specimens are set out in ISO 12572 that includes calculations of mass change rate, the density of water vapour flow rate, water vapour permeance, permeability, resistance factor and diffusion-equivalent air layer thickness.
Accuracy of measurement of specimen and preparation of test reports can be determined by ISO 12572 which gives details on specimen area and thickness, sealants used, weighing precision, control of environmental conditions and variations in barometric pressure during the test.
Overall, ISO 12572 let you design and fabricate the modified cup test assembly to test water vapour transmission properties of building materials with an increasing focus on energy-efficient and sustainable building envelopes that need to define the heat-air-moisture transport (hygrothermal) properties of building materials.
As a result, water vapour transmission properties of building materials play an important role in the overall moisture management and durability of the exterior building envelopes.
BS EN ISO 12572:2016 supersedes BS EN ISO 12572:2001. BS EN ISO 12572:2016 includes some technical changes with respect to BS EN ISO 12572:2001. These include:
EN ISO 12572:2016
ISO 12572:2016