Probing red maple pit membrane pore size at fiber saturation point and oven dry using polystyrene macromolecules

A modified solute exclusion technique was used to pressure impregnate a polystyrene molecular weight (MW) series dissolved in styrene into red maple samples at approximately the fiber saturation point (FSP) and oven dry (OD). Radial penetration was less than tangential and FSP less than OD. There was a marked change in radial OD penetration at 900,000 MW. There was no marked penetration change with MW in the tangential direction, although there appeared to be a slight decrease in FSP penetration at the higher MW tested.