Water migration in poplar wood during microwave drying studied by time domain nuclear magnetic resonance (TD-NMR)

Abstract

AbstractThe migration of bound water and free water has been investigated during microwave drying of wood by the time domain nuclear magnetic resonance (TD-NMR) technique. Both the heartwood (hW) and sapwood (sW) of Beijing poplar (Populus beijingensisW. Y. Hsu) and Qingpi poplar (Populus platyphyllaT. Y. Sun) were studied. The microwave drying is characterized by a fast drying rate, and there is a linear relation between moisture content (MC) and microwave drying time (t). The drying rate of free water is about 2.7 times more rapid than that of bound water. The spin-spin relaxation time (T2) revealed that most of the water was free water situated in smaller pores. The irregular T2 signal amplitudes of free water in hWs indicated that fractional water in smaller pores was transferred into bigger pores during drying.