Effectiveness of pretreatments on Acacia Mangium for conventional steam-heated kiln drying

Timber drying is an important manufacturing process for efficient timber utilisation. Time and cost can be substantial in the development of appropriate drying schedule for unfamiliar timber with unknown drying characteristics, for example refractory timbers. These include heavy hardwood species and plantation timbers that are prone to drying defects under inappropriate drying schedule. As such, a quick drying assessment protocol will be helpful to reduce the cost and time of developing suitable drying schedule. This study demonstrated the use of the protocol for drying rate test to evaluate the effectiveness of pretreatment processes on Acacia mangium timber. The conventional steam-heated kiln drying of this timber is known to produce high occurrence of wet pockets. Pretreatments processes tested included air drying, hot water bath and microwave treatments. Results from the drying trials suggested that hot water bath and microwave pretreatments with appropriate settings after air drying could expedite drying process and alleviate the occurrence of wet pockets in A. mangium