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The technology of high temperature drying has a great influence on dimensional and selected physical changes in tension wood. Article is focused on the measurement properties such as moisture content, color changes and longitudinal warping. The quality of beech wood is determined based on structure and properties of wood, frequency of defects in wood material. The tension wood is considered as an important wood defect causing negative alterations in solid wood quality and limits industrial application of wood. The different values of longitudinal warping which were measured after drying were higher in tension wood than in normal wood. Impact of radial and tangential angle of growth rings is non-significant factor.

The thermal treatment of wood changes its structure due to the degradation of wood polymers (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin), so the physical properties of wood are either improved or degraded. Color changes apply not only to natural wood, but also to such wood composites for which some amount of glue is used in their construction (e.g., plywood, blockboard or laminboard). This article is focused on the analysis of hornbeam and field maple wood color changes influenced by drying temperature. Two types of drying modes were used: hot-air mode where the temperature of the drying environment was 60 °C, and high-temperature mode with a drying temperature of 120 °C. The drying mode was divided into two phases depending on the moisture content of the wood. The compared woods had similar values of color coordinates at the beginning of drying. During hot-air drying, the largest changes in color coordinates occurred during the first 24 h. The total color difference between the color at the end and the beginning of drying was 7.3 for hornbeam and 11.1 for maple. The overall color difference between the compared woods was minimal. During high-temperature drying (120 °C), the color changes of the dried woods were more pronounced. In the case of maple wood, there was a very significant change in color and the value of ΔE* was twice as high as for hornbeam. The total color difference between the color at the end and at the beginning of drying was 8.7 for hornbeam and 18.9 for maple. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]