Evidence of Dual Scale Porous Mechanisms During Fluid Migration in Hardwood Species (Ⅰ) Using the Attenuation of a Aolychromatic X-ray Beam to Determine the Evolution of Moisture Content During Imbibition of Beech

An experimental device able to determine the moisture content of wood usingX-ray attenuation is used to study the imbibition of beech samples (Fagus silvatica). The apparatusincludes an X-ray generator, a protective tube, collimating plates and a 50 mm detector. Detectedparticles can be categorised by energy (accuracy of the order of 20%) or by position (accuracy 100μm). The independent choice of both the energy spectrum (through the voltage) and the counting rate(through the current intensity) makes the installation very flexible. However, a rigorous treatmentis necessary to deal with the attenuation of a polychromatic spectrum. The appropriate calculationsare presented and validated with homogeneous samples made of wood and water. In addition, someresults are presented with samples heterogeneous in density and moisture content. Finally, theexperimental device is used to study the evolution of moisture content during saturationexperiments, for which the moisture migration is mainly due to capillary forces. The geometricalconfiguration was so arranged that the transfer can be studied in two directions simultaneously.