Effects of Convective Vacuum Drying with Heating Coil on Properties of Pyinkado (Xylia Xylocarpa)

Drying of wood is one of the most important industrial processes in wood manufacturing. Mechanical properties of wood are affected from drying process. Pyinkado is hardwood for drying which is so much resin therefore drying is rather slow and sometimes difficult to perform. Applying vacuum drying make short time drying and increase quality. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of heating coil in vacuum drying on the drying quality and properties of Pyinkado. For this purpose Pyinkado samples were dried by vacuum drying with heating coil at 45-60 C temperatures and at 55-118 mmHg ambient pressure for 93-100 hours. Final moisture content (MC) distributions, case hardening, modulus of rupture (MOR) and compression strength (CS) of dried samples were determined of dried samples were determined. According to the results of the test vacuum drying with heating coil increased the MOR and CS of Pyinkado.