Study on the Moisture Content Determination of Pinus yunnanensis Timber by WB-HX Method

A new improved method of moisture content determination called WB-HX was proposed in the paper.There are two steps in the method to dry samples.Preliminary dry samples are got quickly in microwave oven in the first step and completely dry samples are obtained in the constant temperature of oven in the second step.The dry parameters for wood of Pinus yunnanensis are as follows:the first step is to heat the samples in microwave oven for 3minutes,and than keep them in the oven for 2 minutes,the second step is to keep them in the constant temperature (103±2℃) in the oven for 2 hours.WB-HX method only needs 4-6 hours to dry samples completely which is 1-3 hours less than the conventional method,and the determination differe nce is only 0 08% comparing with international method,the difference of parallel samples is 0 2%,and determination precision is the same as that of international method.In addition,the cost of WB-HX is only half of the international method and operation of it is very simple.