was applied to the submerged cubes and held for 30 minutes.
After the vacuum was released the blocks were kept submerged
in the treating solution for 8 days under ambient conditions
in the laboratory to allow ample time for diffusion of
borate throughout the block. The blocks were removed from
the solution, dried in an oven at 60°C overnight, exposed to
ambient laboratory conditions for 7 days, cut in half (cross
section) using a band saw and the cut face scanned with a NIR
spectrometer as described below. After the NIR measurements,
the wood pieces were analyzed for borate content using
reflux extraction in water for 1 hour and subsequent potentiometric
titration of the resulting solution using mannitol
(AWPA A2-05).