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Interpreting Dynamic Vapor Sorption (DVS) Measurements: Why Wood Science Needs to Hit the Reset Button

Formally Refereed

Abstract

Water vapor sorption is an important characteristic of wood as an engineering material. In addition to affecting engineering properties such as the heat capacity, thermal conductivity, strength, stiffness, and dimensions, moisture is fundamental to many wood degradation mechanisms including fungal decay. Water vapor sorption isotherms have been gaining increasing attention in the wood literature as more laboratories adopt automated sorption balances, frequently called dynamic vapor sorption (DVS) analyzers. With DVS, the collection of sorption isotherms can be automated, completely transforming what was once a series of tedious manual measurements. The adoption of DVS, however, preceded careful studies of the precision and accuracy of the measurement; as a result, many of the previously published studies have been cast under scrutiny in recent years as the technique has been further studied. This paper summarizes the advancements in understanding of the relationship between experimental method and experimental errors with DVS along with best practices that should be used when collecting DVS data in future studies.

Keywords

wood-moisture relations, water vapor sorption isotherms, dynamic vapor sorption analyzers, parallel exponential kinetics (PEK model)

Citation

Zelinka, S.L.; Thybring, E.E.; Glass, S.V. 2021. Interpreting dynamic vapor sorption (DVS) measurements: why wood science needs to hit the reset button. In: Proceedings of the World Conference on Timber Engineering, August 9-12, 2021, Santiago, Chile. Paper No: EPFT0101.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/62979