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The Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance (FGIA) has updated a document that provides methods to evaluate the damage caused by thermal cycling on large exterior fenestration components and cladding.
The Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance (FGIA) has updated a document that provides methods to evaluate the damage caused by thermal cycling on large exterior fenestration components and cladding. The document, AAMA 501.5-23, Test Method for Serviceability of Exterior Fenestration After Thermal Cycling, was last updated in 2007.
Steve Fronek of Apogee Enterprises is the chairperson of the Test Method for Thermal Cycling of Exterior Wall Review Task Group. He says AAMA 501.5 has been used for more than 20 years to assess the serviceability of various exterior wall products after thermal cycling.
Thermal cycling is a method that involves heating and cooling a material or a device between two temperature extremes at a certain rate and duration. It evaluates a product’s design and material defects that will face varying temperatures.
“In this update, the thermal cycling test method was aligned with the recently published AAMA 501.9 surface temperature assessment for condensation evaluation,” says Fronek. “A more-repeatable and more-representative cycling protocol based on exterior ambient air temperature has been adopted. Glass breakage and noise associated with wall systems’ expansion and contraction have been addressed in detail.”
