The drying performance and post-drying qualities of Eucalyptus saligna exposed to intermittent and continuous drying

Abstract

Eucalyptus saligna tends to develop defects during its drying process, thus limiting its use as construction or furniture material. Intermittent drying, which applies non-heating phases between heating phases, has the potential to overcome this issue. This study evaluated the effects of 3 intermittent and 1 continuous schedule on the species’ drying performance and post-drying qualities. The results showed that the boards from all intermittent schedules exhibit significantly slower drying rates (from -9.4x10-3 /hour to -1.57 x10-2 /hour) than those from the continuous schedule (from -5.12 x10-2 /hour to -1.03 x10-2 /hour). The intermittently-dried boards also developed lower collapse depth (..