Describing non-Fickian water-vapour sorption in wood

Abstract

Moisture transport and sorption in wood may not be accurately described by Fick's law of diffusion. The problem of making a model of non-Fickian behaviour (NFB) for wood is discussed. Some measurements in which NFB in wood is clearly seen are also reviewed. Four criteria, which must be satisfied by a model describing sorption in wood cell walls, are presented: (1) the model should not only describe the response to step changes in vapour pressure; (2) it should be able to predict sorption with more than one time scale; (3) the sorption rate should not depend on the thickness of the cell wall; (4) small rapid changes in vapour pressure should give slower fractional weight change than large rapid changes. A review of models of NFB in synthetic polymers indicates that there is presently no model of NFB which fulfills the above criteria. More measurements of the sorption behaviour of the cell wall are needed to construct such a model for wood. This model can then probably be used, together with a Fickian diffusion model, to model the sorption behaviour of whole wood.