Development of innovative lightweight cardboard elements for sustainable constructions

Aproject on the development ofresourceefficient lightweight cardboard elements for sustainable constructions was launched at ETH Zurich, with partners from architecture, structural engineering, material science and industry. In an initial research project [1], [2] the general feasibility of using cardboards for construction as well as aspects of sustainability werestudied. It was foundthat moisture and fire are the two major technical obstacles for general structural application of cardboard, while the study of the socio-architectural aspects showed no critical criterions prohibiting the use of cardboard in buildings.For both technical problems, a solution with an inorganic coating of the cardboard cells, offeredpromising results. In a second phase of the project the inorganiccoating was optimized and the initial application process wasmodified from dipping into a high quality industrial coating process. This paper focuses on design aspects ofcoated cardboard as cores of sandwich panelsfor structural applications. Furthermore a test program to generate mechanical properties for cardboard elements and first results arepresented.