Swisspearl Gravial

Swisspearl Gravial is a naturally dried fiber cement façade board with a linearly milled surface structure and a glazed coating. It belongs to the Swisspearl Largo range of façade boards and is sold in the US as a commercial rainscreen panel. The board carries the designation AC 90, ASTM 1185 and EN 12467.

The linear milling creates a play of light and shadow that depends on the time of day and the viewing angle. Gravial is one of the fiber cement rainscreen panels in the Largo collection, alongside lines such as Carat, Nobilis, Planea and Reflex.

Within the Swisspearl façade range, Gravial is a color line. The other façade color lines are Carat, Vintago, Avera, Nobilis, Terra, Reflex, Planea, Zenor and the Patina NXT series (Original, Rough, Inline and Structure). The façade formats are Largo and Modula, and Gravial is offered in the Largo format, which is also available for interior use.

The face is milled in straight, parallel lines, and a translucent pigmented glaze is applied over the milled relief. The base board is through-colored on a gray base, depending on the shade selected. The optic is translucent and matte.

The subtle shadows that the milling creates on each panel make the transition from light to dark effective in just a few steps. The façade reads as strong directional bands rather than a flat field.

The US selection has six standard shades, matched to the gray panel core. Apart from one brown tone, the color line runs through soft gray tones from white to black.

• Anthracite 3020
• Granite 624
• Crystal 125
• Ivory 3099
• Ivory 3090
• Amber 723

• Nominal thickness: 9 mm and 12 mm (one data column covers both).
• Nominal width: 49.21 in.
• Nominal length: 98.74 to 120.08 in.
• Average shipping weight: 4.30 lb/ft².
• Dry density: 96.7 lb/ft³ minimum and 112.4 lb/ft³ average (ASTM 1186).
• Moisture content: 2 to 7 percent.

Largo panels are cut to freely selected widths and lengths within a maximum usable size of 3050 × 1250 mm, which matches the 120.08 × 49.21 in upper limit on the Gravial data sheet. Largo is listed with an A2-s1, d0 fire classification.

The fixing methods listed for the Largo format of Gravial are level laying, inverted cover, visible fastening with rivets or screws, and invisible fastening with Sigma 8 Pro or gluing. The Gravial product page links to rear-ventilated façade systems, visible fasteners and invisible fasteners.

Gravial has an ambient E-module average of 12.0 GPa. Flexural strength values are a wet average of 3669 psi and a minimum of 2610 psi. The board is classified Type A, class IV under ASTM 1186.

Gravial is classified A2-s1, d0 for reaction to fire under EN 13501-1. ASTM E84 gives Class A (Does not ignite). NFPA 285 and ASTM E136 (materials at 750 °C) are recorded as Passed.

Gravial is rated for air temperatures from -40 to +80 °C in use. Its thermal expansion coefficient is 0.01 mm/m °C and its thermal conductivity is 0.5 W/mK (ISO 8301, EN 12667). Frost resistance of Gravial stands at 100 cycles with RL above 0.75 (EN 12467).

Water absorption after 24 hours at 105 °C and 24 hours in water is 14.6 percent. Moisture movement at 30/90 percent RH (ASTM 1186) is 0.009 in/ft. For water vapor transmission (ISO 12572) the Z-value is 5.21 GPa m² s/kg, the Sd value is 1.01 m and the resistance factor μ is 651.

Color variation measured on the production line is a ΔE below 2.0 in the CIELAB model. Color resistance to UV under Xenon arc accelerated weathering (ASTM G155) is a ΔE below 5.0 at both 3000 hours and 5000 hours.

The environmental footprint (EN 15804, ISO 14040 and ISO 14044) is 16.7 kg CO₂-eq total for stages A1 to C4, made up of 0.74 biogenic and 16.5 fossil. The manufacturing facility holds ISO 9001 Quality Management System certification. The board is CE marked under a Declaration of Performance issued under European Regulation 305/2011.

The fiber cement in Gravial is made from cement, cellulose, water, synthetic fibers and air, with pigments added for color. Each Gravial board is rolled, pressed, cut, cured and colored under continuous quality control. Gravial is produced at one of nine Swisspearl facilities in Europe, which have been asbestos-free for more than two decades. The materials and chemicals in Gravial comply with REACH. The Largo format of Gravial falls under the Cradle to Cradle Certified Full Scope certification at the Bronze level, version 4.1.

For Gravial, perforations, engravings of geometric shapes, patterns, logos or images, and free forms and cutting are offered. Custom colors for Gravial can be made in NCS, RAL or Pantone shades. Special colors are possible only in the Carat, Nobilis and Planea lines, not in Gravial.