• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.31-40
• /
• 2021

The hydrogen in nominally anhydrous mineral is known to be associated with lattice defects, but it also can exist in the form of water and hydroxyl groups on the large surface of the nanoscale particles. In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of 1H solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as a robust experimental method to quantify the hydrogen atomic environments of amorphous silica nanoparticles with varying relative humidity. Amorphous silica nanoparticles were packed into NMR rotors in a temperature-humidity controlled glove box, then stored in different atmospheric conditions with 25% and 70% relative humidity for 2~10 days until 1H NMR experiments, and a slight difference was observed in 1H NMR spectra. These results indicate that amount of hydrous species in the sample packed in the NMR rotor is rarely changed by the external atmosphere. The amount of hydrogen atom, especially the amount of physisorbed water may vary in the range of ~10% due to the temporal and spatial inhomogeneity of relative humidity in the glove box. The quantitative analysis of 1H NMR spectra shows that the amount of hydrogen atom in amorphous silica nanoparticles linearly increases as the relative humidity increases. These results imply that the sample sealing capability of the NMR rotor is sufficient to preserve the hydrous environments of samples, and is suitable for the quantitative measurement of water content of ultrafine nominally anhydrous minerals depending on the atmospheric relative humidity. We expect that 1H solid-state NMR method is suitable to investigate systematically the effect of surface area and crystallinity on the water content of diverse nano-sized nominally anhydrous minerals with varying relative humidity.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.5-7
• /
• 1974

1. This study indicates that above the fiber saturation point the drying rate can be increased with increasing the velocity of the air circutation, i.e., the drying rate of sample boards is proportional to the air velocity, but below the fiber saturation point, the effect of the velocity of air circulation is very low as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. 2. Under the controlled temperature and humidity in the kiln, the more the sample boards have moisture, the higher drying rate of it can be obtained. In other words, this means that even though in the case of drying various moisture content of wood, at the final drying stage, approximately the same percentage of moisture content of wood can be secured by employing the higher velocity of air circulation. 3. This study shows that the rate of drying in kiln changes distinctly at the fiber saturation point, i, e., above the fiber saturation point, the drying curve shows concave aginst the X axsis, but below the fiber saturation point, in the range from 30 percent of moisture content to 20 percent of moisture content, the curve shows convex as shown in Fig. 3. As the drying progresses, however, the drying curve shows concave again below 20 percent of moisture content. This means that inflection point of drying curve may be located clearly at the fiber saturation point, i.e., 30 percent of moisture content. As mentioned above, the 30 percent of moisture content of wood at which the inflectional point appears can be recognized as a critical point, i. e., the fiber saturation point at which all free water was removed from wood. The existence of inflectional point indicates that the evaporation of hygroscopic water in a cell wall is more difficult than the evaporation of free water in a cell cavity and the minor space of cell wall. The convex curve in the range of moisture content from 30 percent to 20 percent means that the evaporation of capillary condensed water has a tendency of the same rates of drying approximately, but as approaching to the 20 percent of moisture, the transfusion of moisture from wood becomes difficult because of having less moisture in cell wall. Below 20 percent of moisture content, the drying curve shows concave again, which means that it is difficult to remove the moisture located nearer to the surface of cellulose molecules and the surface bound water. These relations were revealed in Fig. 4. In comparison AC curve which does not have the two inflection points with BD curve which has two inflection points, i.e., Band D, they are mentioned already, by existence of the inflection points, the curve BD shows that the change of drying rate in the interval from 20 percent of moisture content to 30 percent of moisture content is not greater than in the case of the curve AC in the same interval. At the inflection point of 30 percent of moisture content, it can be noticed that the changing of the drying rate is very conspicuous. This phenomenon also can be recognized, as it is noticed by the Fig. 3, the drying rate from green to 30 percent of moisture content is very great. But the inclination of the curve is very slow from 30 percent of moisture content to 20 percent of moisture content, i.e., the inclination of the curve becomes almost horizontal lines. Acknowledgments Gratitude is expressed to Fred E. Dickinson, Professor of 'Wood Technology, School of Natural Resources, University of Michigan, USA for his suggestion to carry out this study.