Can Moisture Buffer Performance be Estimated from Sorption Kinetics?

Abstract

This article describes the research on the moisture buffering effect of building materials. A set of experiments on samples of current building materials are conducted under transient conditions of relative humidity (RH). The results obtained are then analyzed using kinetics models. The experimental settings are based on the moisture buffer value (MBV) test method currently under study by Nordic researchers. The main result from these tests is the MBV number that can be used to characterize the moisture buffer performance of a material or a system. The application of kinetics models to the experimental results is explored and several parameters are retrieved. A proposal for the use of these parameters is presented and its practical use is discussed.