Heat of sorption

The sorption (desorption) of moisture in a porous material is accompanied by a variation of energy in the system. In order to better characterize this phenomenon, moisture content and temperature variations are simultaneously measured at high temporal and spatial resolution. To achieve this, various porous materials are subjected to a controlled sorption (desorption) process in a micro wind tunnel developed in-house. The moisture content variations are obtained by neutron radiography and Gravimetry. The temperature variations are measured by thermocouples inserted at various locations inside the samples.

These experimental results are analyzed in terms of energy variations and are used to validate sorption (desorption) models.