TITLE:
The Equilibrium Moisture Content of Five Lesser Utilized Species of Ghana Contrasted with Three European Species
AUTHORS:
Gladys A. Quartey, John Frank Eshun, Emmanual Yaw Wereko
KEYWORDS:
Albies alba, Fagus sylvatica, Picea abies, Equilibrium Moisture Content, Amphimas pterocarpoides, Antiaris toxicaria, Canarium schweinfurthii, Lesser Utilized Hardwood Species
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Composite Materials,
Vol.12 No.2,
May
19,
2022
ABSTRACT: Equilibrium moisture contents (EMC) of wood species are very necessary in
the utilization of these in service. This study investigated the EMC of five
lesser utilized species of Ghana and compared it with that of three European species. Sixteen randomly sampled specimens of each
of the eight species (heartwood and sapwood) with dimensions 3 cm × 3 cm × 3 cm were exposed
at various relative humidity conditions of 30%, 45%, 60%, 75% and 90% in a
temperature and humidity-controlled climate chamber at a temperature of 25°C in accordance to German standard DIN 52182.
The species are Albies alba, Fagus
sylvatica and Picea abies which
are European species and Amphimas pterocarpoides, Antiaris toxicaria, Canarium schweinfurthii, Celtis
zenkeri and Cola gigantea are wood species from Ghana. Internal wood
temperature and humidity were measured with datalogger.
Samples were considered to have
reached equilibrium at any given humidity when the daily weight changes
were less than 0.1 mg according to German standard DIN 52183. After the last
measurements of the weight changes, the samples were dried at 103°C until there was a constant weight. The five
tropical hardwoods had low sorption values recorded and high sorption values
for the European species and this could be attributed to differences in the
microstructure of these woods.