Influence of Moisture Sorption on Swelling of Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla King) Wood

Abstract

Summary Samples of mahogany wood (Swietenia macrophylla King) from Peru were used for moisture sorption tests associated with swelling tests at 25°C. Seven adsorption and five desorption moisture conditions were investigated to study the differences in swelling between adsorption and desorption curves at a given equilibrium moisture content. The results demonstrated that dimensional changes in the tangential direction and in volume were greater for desorption than for adsorption. The presence of these second order effects of moisture sorption in mahogany wood were not detected in the radial direction. Finally, the tangential/radial swelling ratio of this wood was lower in both states of sorption, and was lower in adsorption than in the desorption state.