In order to examine effect of microwave drying on the and strand surface energy,
strands of southern yellow pine, which included fresh and dried with industrial rotary drum
drier, were collected directly from an OSB production line. The fresh strands were to be dried
with microwave in laboratory. The microwave drying condition was 687 W microwave
power input, 4 minutes drying time with a turntable. In the case of industrial rotary drum
drier, the drying temperature at the strand feeding zone was 740 degree Celsius and drying
time was less than one minute. Thirty industrial dried strands and thirty laboratory dried
strands were randomly collected for testing surface contact angle and surface energy. The
contact angle and surface energy on strands were measured using a dynamic contact angle
analyzer (DCA 322), which is based on Wilhelmy plate technique (Zhang and Wang 2004).