Summary
The pressure membrane and pressure plate techniques were used to establish the moisture content-water potential (M-ψ) relationship of red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) sapwood in desorption above the fiber saturation point. The moisture content-water potential relationship is required for the development of a model of drying considering the gradient of water potential as the driving force of moisture in wood. This relationship was established at 18, 56 and 85 °C for radial desorption. The results obtained demonstrate that water potential ψ increases with temperature T at a given moisture content M. There is no significant variation of ∂ψ/∂T with temperature. Also, there is no plateau at intermediate moisture contents as was the case for the M-ψ relationship of aspen sapwood established in a previous work. The effective integral and differential pore size distributions inferred from the M-ψ relationship are also presented. The largest proportion of effective pore openings was found for a radius of 0.2 μm. This value can be related to the pit membrane openings of red pine.
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This research project is currently supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada under grant no. OGP0121954
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Tremblay, C., Cloutier, A. & Fortin, Y. Moisture content-water potential relationship of red pine sapwood above the fiber saturation point and determination of the effective pore size distribution. Wood Sci.Technol. 30, 361–371 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00223556
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00223556