BASIC DENSITY IN THE DRYING PROCESS OF <em>EUCALYPTUS</em> <em>UROPHYLLA</em> AND <em>PINUS</em> <em>CARIBAEA</em> WOOD

Abstract

The freshly cut wood has large amount of water. Wood drying is essential for timber production, regardless of its final use. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between density and drying of Eucalyptus urophylla and Pinus caribaea wood. Five trees per species were selected and a central plank was removed to prepare the samples (5 × 5 × 15 cm). These samples were saturated, cubed and subjected to drying in a climatic chamber until reaching equilibrium moisture content, and subsequently oven dried at 103 °C, to obtain dry mass. The relationship between density and wood drying was assessed using linear regression models and coefficient of determination. The basic density was inversely proportional to the drying parameters above the fibre saturation point, and directly proportional to the number of drying days between the fibre saturation point and achieving equilibrium moisture content. The linear regression models estimated the maximum moisture content, water loss in the first three days, drying rate, days to reach the fibre saturation point and days between the fibre saturation point and equilibrium moisture content through wood density, with a coefficient of determination higher than 0.90, 0.54, 0.58, 0.73 and 0.45, respectively.