Influence of heating and drying history on micropores in dry wood

To investigate the influence of heating and drying history on the microstructure of dry wood, in addition to the dynamic viscoelastic properties, CO₂ adsorption onto dry wood at ice.water temperature (273 K) was measured, and the micropore size distribution was obtained using the Horvath-Kawazoe (HK) method. Micropores smaller than 0.6 nm exist in the microstructures of dry wood, and they decreased with elevating out-gassing temperature and increased again after rewetting and drying. Dry wood subjected to higher temperatures showed larger dynamic elastic modulus (E′) and smaller loss modulus (E″). This is interpreted as the result of the modification at higher temperature of the instability caused by drying. Drying history influenced the number of micropores smaller than 0.6 nm in dry wood not subjected to high temperature, although the difference in the number of micropores resulting from the drying history decreased with increasing out-gassing temperature. A larger number of micropores smaller than 0.6 nm exist in the microstructure of dry wood in more unstable states, corresponding to smaller E′ and larger E″ than in the stable state. Consequently, unstable states are considered to result from the existence of temporary micropores in the microstructures of dry wood, probably in lignin. Part of this report was presented at the 55th Annual Meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Kyoto, March 2005, and at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Akita, August 2006