This review article introduces recent technical and scientific reports in terms of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in the wood and paper science and industry, where interest has increased during the last couple decades. Many researchers reported the NIR technique was useful to detect multi information in both chemical and physical properties of wood materials, although it was widely used in a state where characteristic cellular structure was retained. In the case of application of NIR spectroscopy to pulp and paper, many publications have pointed out its high probability as online measurement techniques during paper‐making process control. Arguments referred to the importance of NIR spectroscopy as fundamental and applied research of wood and paper.

This review article introduces recent scientific and technical reports due to near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) at wood science and technology, most of which was published between 2006 and 2013. Many researchers reported that NIR technique was useful to detect multi traits of chemical, physical, mechanical and anatomical properties of wood materials although it was widely used in a state where characteristic cellular structure was retained. However, we should be sensitive and careful for application of NIRS, when spectra coupled with chemometrics presents unexpected good results (especially, for mechanical physical and anatomical properties). The real application for on-line or at-line monitoring in wood industry is desired as next step. Basic spectroscopic research for wooden material is also progressed. It should be a powerful and meaningful analytical spectroscopic tool.

The ageing degradation of the fine wood structure of dry-exposed archaeological wood was investigated by Fourier transform near-infrared spectroscopy with the aid of a deuterium exchange method. The archaeological wood sample was taken from an old wooden temple in Japan (late 7th century), which has been designated as a UNESCO world heritage site. Comparing the analytical results with those of a modern wood sample of the same species, the ageing process of archaeological wood was clarified as a change in the state of order on a macromolecular structural level. It can be concluded from NIR spectra that the amorphous region, and partially semi-crystalline region, in cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin decreased by the ageing degradation, whereas the crystalline region in cellulose was not affected by the ageing. The accessibility of the diffusant to effect H/D-exchange was monitored by an OH-related absorption band obtained from FT-NIR transmission spectroscopy and characteristically varied with the ageing process of the wood samples, the absorption bands characteristic of a specific state of order and the diffusion agent. Finally, we proposed a morphological model to describe the variation of the fine structure of the microfibrils in the cell wall with ageing degradation. The state of microfibrils changed loosely by ageing, so that elementary fibrils were arranged loosely under 5 Å, whereas several elementary fibrils in the modern wood were arranged in very close proximity under 3 Å to each other.

We investigated the adsorption/desorption mechanism of water and the variation of water adsorption for modern and archaeological wood using near-infrared spectroscopy. A mixture model of water was used to decompose the near-infrared difference spectra into three components (free water molecules (S₀), those with one OH group engaged in hydrogen bonding (S₁), and those with two OH groups engaged in hydrogen bonding (S₂)) based on a principal component analysis. The variations of each water component with relative humidity could be explained by proposing a model that describes water absorption in three stages. It was concluded that the aging phenomenon in wood is due to the decrease of adsorption sites on hemicellulose and amorphous cellulose.