Because the reflectance
of NIR energy off wood can be influenced by the
presence of borate (Feldhoff et al. 1998), it is possible that
NIR spectroscopy combined with multivariate analytical
techniques could be used to quantifiably detect the presence
of boron-based preservatives in treated wood. The objective
of this study was to assess the ability of NIR to predict the
concentration of borate in vacuum-treated pine sapwood
cubes