ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF THE CONDITIONING PHASE IN TIMBER DRYING

Abstract

The conditioning phase of the conventional timber drying process has been investigated. Due to wood shrinkage, tensile stress will develop in the surface layer of the board during drying. This stress combined with the change in MC causes mechano-sorptive creep. If the process is abruptly terminated when the target MC is reached, then there will be a considerable internal MC gradient and the creep deformation will cause distortions in subsequent machining. A conditioning phase is often introduced at the end, in order to reduce these problems. The conditioning phase has been analyzed with a wood drying simulation model. It is shown that traditional conditioning cannot completely reverse the deformations, even at very long conditioning times. An optimizing procedure has thus been used to create a new conditioning “schedule” which gives the best possible result within a given time. Features of such optimized schedules are presented. As the surface layer is elongated during drying, there is a risk that considerable stress develops as the moisture profile levels out. In some cases internal checking will be the result. The optimization procedure is thus modified to avoid such situations and the impact on the conditioning schedule is discussed.

Keywords:

• Creep
• Internal checking
• Simulation
• Wood drying

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Association for Swedish Wood Products Research.