Moisture transport dynamics in wood during drying studied by long-wave near-infrared hyperspectral imaging

The complexities of wood microstructure cause difficulties in understanding water movement characteristics during drying. Here, the water transport dynamics in softwood (Japanese cypress) with different sample lengths (30 mm, 60 mm, and 90 mm) and various drying temperatures (30 °C, 60 °C, and 90 °C) were studied using a rapid and high-resolution moisture content (MC) mapping method based on long-wave near-infrared hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI). The observations of this study are as follows: slow drying at approximately 30 °C, the area near the subsurface of the wood samples tends to have higher MC than the central parts during drying, especially in the case of longer wood samples. For drying at higher temperatures, strongly bonded water appeared at the surface areas much earlier, which could easily cause sample deformation and cracking. Overall, the experimental results suggest the capillary effects could play a major role at the first stage of slow drying at fiber level; then, the transfers between bound and free water could play a significant power source in the second drying stage. It is expected that this study will be of help in providing a basis to study and simulate the drying characteristics of cellular and hydrophilic materials.