Characteristic Air Drying Curve for Tectona grandis and Acacia mangium Lumber

Abstract

Air drying is a simple, low-cost alternative that can be used in the pre-drying or definitive drying of several woods. The objective of the present work was to study the behavior of the characteristic air drying curve for Acacia mangium and Tectona grandis lumber. Fifteen-year-old trees of each species were cut into logs of approximately 3 m in length. The logs were sawn using a tangential cut system to obtain 3 cm-thick boards. After the wood pile was mounted for drying, the moisture content of samples was determined, and monitoring occurred through the periodic weighing of the control samples. It was possible to observe that, under the environmental conditions imposed, Acacia mangium boards dried more slowly than Tectona grandis boards. A separate analysis of the drying curve for each species is recommended.

natural drying; moisture content; lumber pile