Laser Incising to Increase Drying Rate of Wood
Keywords:
Incising, drying, laserAbstract
The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which laser incising can decrease drying time of wood. Specifically, the effect of hole spacing and diameter were investigated. Hard maple heartwood was incised with holes of 0.012-, 0.018-, and 0.027-inch diameter with edge-to-edge hole spacings of 0.03, 0.06, 0.09, 0.12, 0.15, and 0.20 inch at each diameter. The time required for 90% of total drying to occur was decreased by as much as 70% for close hole spacings. As spacing increased, the reduction in drying time decreased until at a spacing of 0.20 inch it was only 5% or less. The effect of hole diameter was less well defined. The decreases in drying time for a hole diameter of 0.012 inch were less than for the two larger hole diameters. Speculation is that at this small diameter water vapor cannot escape from the holes at a rate fast enough to keep pace with the rate of delivery of water from the wood to the internal surfaces of the holes. The relationship between the time required for 90% of drying to occur and edge-to-edge hole spacing was modeled using a combination of moisture diffusion analysis and an empirical correction to the diffusion analysis that takes into account the effect of drying from the normal center-to-surface movement in addition to the movement to hole surfaces.References
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