An easy drying schedule for Tectona grandis through vacuum press drying

Resumen

Drying experiments were conducted on 25 mm thick samples of Tectona grandis with the aim of evolving a drying schedule under vacuum press drying. The experiments were conducted under eleven different combinations of water temperature and pressure level inside the chamber. The results were analysed to understand which combination resulted in highest percentage moisture content (MC) reductions from different initial MC ranges above and below the fibre saturation point of the species. Based on this, a simple schedule was formulated for drying planks of this timber. No serious drying degrades could be observed in the samples in spite of taking them through different drying cycles. It was found by applying this schedule that 25 mm thick samples of teak could be dried to around 7.6 % MC levels from around 24 % initial MC effectively in three steps. The study illustrated the usefulness of vacuum press drying technique in fast drying of teak.