EFFECT OF THE STEAMING ON THE DRYING OF Eucalyptus grandis BOARDS

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of the steaming on the drying rate and drying quality of Eucalyptus grandis boards. For this purpose, wood from an experimental plantation of the Federal University of Lavras, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, with 24 years of age was used. Trees were felled and sectioned in logs and the logs were sawn by a tangential system. Half of the boards volume were steamed during 3 hours at 90 degrees C of temperature and 100% of relative humidity after the heating of the drying process. The other half was not steamed (control). The boards were dried in the dry-kiln and the resulting defects from the drying process and drying rate were determined. The results indicated that the steaming was effective in increase of the drying rate in 15% and decrease of the drying defects of 20 to 52%.