Moisture content-water potential relationship of wood from saturated to dry conditions
1991
Cloutier, A. | Fortin, Y.
The water potential concept as applied to wood-water relations is presented. The gradient in water potential can be used as the driving force of moisture in wood in a model of drying in isothermal conditions provided the moisture content - water potential relationship is known. This relationship is established for aspen sapwood in desorption from saturated to dry conditions at 20, 35 and 50 degrees C for two specimen orientations. The tension plate, pressure plate and pressure membrane methods were used at high moisture contents and equilibration over saturated salt solutions was used at low moisture contents. The results obtained demonstrate that these methods can be used in combination in order to establish the relationship within the whole range of moisture contents. The equilibrium moisture contents obtained by the tension plate, the pressure plate and the pressure membrane methods for tangential desorption were slightly higher than those measured for radial desorption. The water potential increased with temperature at a given moisture content. This effect cannot be solely explained by the variation of surface tension of water with temperature.
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