Drying of oak wood lamellas: Part 2. Influence of temperature on the drying quality and wood colour

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the analysis of the influence of higher initial temperatures during the drying of oak lamellas on the final quality and wood colour. Two different drying schedules (initial temperature: 45°C and 50°C; final temperature: 55°C) were used and then the drying quality and wood colour were determined. The colour change was expressed by parameter ΔE but also by the corrected parameter ΔE00. It was shown that the drying quality was very high in both cases, and that the colour change that occurred during drying was invisible to the naked eye. The application of higher temperatures does not pose a risk to the drying quality due to the small thickness of the wood and the short drying process. In industry, a higher initial temperature is justified in situations where sufficient quantities of (cheap) thermal energy are available. The results confirmed that the percentage of lamellas’ deformation was reduced when the load was applied while drying.

Keywords

• oak lamellas
• drying schedule
• temperature
• colour change