TY - CHAP

T1 - Wood and Moisture

AU - Thybring, Emil Engelund

AU - Fredriksson, Maria

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Wood is a porous, hygroscopic material that can take up water both within cell walls (cell-wall water) and in the macrovoid structure (capillary water). Therefore, moisture transport in wood occurs through multiple pathways and phases of water, that is, both cell-wall water, liquid water, and water vapor can be transported through the material structure. The amount of water in wood is quantified by the moisture content (mass of water in relation to the dry mass), which changes with the surrounding environmental conditions (relative humidity and temperature). This relation is commonly depicted in sorption isotherms that plot the equilibrium moisture content as function of relative humidity for specific, constant temperatures. How water is taken up by wood changes over the relative humidity range. In the hygroscopic range (0% to 97–98% relative humidity), water is predominantly taken up in cell walls, whereas capillary condensation of liquid water in the macrovoid structure becomes dominant in the over-hygroscopic range (>98% relative humidity). The equilibrium illustrated in sorption isotherms for specific environmental conditions is not singular, but depends on the sorption history; this phenomenon is known as sorption hysteresis. Sorption isotherms are generally modeled using mathematical expressions that are fitted to data in the hygroscopic range. Some of these models include quantities describing the physical reality of wood-water interactions; however, these quantities rarely match up to the experimentally determined reality for wood. The same can be said of the mathematical models describing the kinetics of water uptake in wood cell walls.

AB - Wood is a porous, hygroscopic material that can take up water both within cell walls (cell-wall water) and in the macrovoid structure (capillary water). Therefore, moisture transport in wood occurs through multiple pathways and phases of water, that is, both cell-wall water, liquid water, and water vapor can be transported through the material structure. The amount of water in wood is quantified by the moisture content (mass of water in relation to the dry mass), which changes with the surrounding environmental conditions (relative humidity and temperature). This relation is commonly depicted in sorption isotherms that plot the equilibrium moisture content as function of relative humidity for specific, constant temperatures. How water is taken up by wood changes over the relative humidity range. In the hygroscopic range (0% to 97–98% relative humidity), water is predominantly taken up in cell walls, whereas capillary condensation of liquid water in the macrovoid structure becomes dominant in the over-hygroscopic range (>98% relative humidity). The equilibrium illustrated in sorption isotherms for specific environmental conditions is not singular, but depends on the sorption history; this phenomenon is known as sorption hysteresis. Sorption isotherms are generally modeled using mathematical expressions that are fitted to data in the hygroscopic range. Some of these models include quantities describing the physical reality of wood-water interactions; however, these quantities rarely match up to the experimentally determined reality for wood. The same can be said of the mathematical models describing the kinetics of water uptake in wood cell walls.

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-81315-4_7

DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-81315-4_7

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 978-3-030-81314-7

T3 - Springer Handbooks

SP - 355

EP - 397

BT - Springer Handbook of Wood Science and Technology

A2 - Niemz, Peter

A2 - Teischinger, Alfred

A2 - Sandberg, Dick

PB - Springer

CY - Cham

ER -