IDENTIFICATION OF WOOD SPECIES

摘要

A method and apparatus to produce an ion mobility signature representing a wood sample provides a method of comparing signatures to identify the species of the wood sample. A method of producing an ion drift time signature representing a wood species comprises heating at least a portion of a wood sample at a temperature in the range of about 220 to 350.degree.C to desorb and produce trace vapours from the wood sample, ionize the trace vapours at a temperature in the range of about 220 to 350.degree.C, pulse ions through a gate into a drift region, measure the time of arrival of the ions and the ion flux for each pulse, with a collector electrode, located at the end of the drift region to produce an ionic signal, and amplify and average the ionic signal to provide an ion drift time signature for the wood sample.