NCJ Number
136022
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 37 Issue: 2 Dated: (March 1992) Pages: 528-541
Date Published
1992
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study determined that the Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometry is a valuable method for the analysis of inks, and use of the diffuse reflectance (DR) accessory and the direct deposit technique makes sampling reasonably convenient.
Abstract
The authors' previous studies indicated that DR, using the direct deposit method, could be a useful sampling method for the analysis of ball point pen inks. Analysis by DR allows screening of a composite ink as a whole including dye component, resins, and other additives. Studies were done on both whole liquid ink removed from ballpoint pen cartridges (whole ink) and on extracted ballpoint pen ink from writing samples (extracted ink). Current FT-IR software provides the ability to create customized computer searchable spectral libraries easily. Such libraries have been prepared for both whole and extracted ballpoint pen inks analyzed by DR. Use of the complementary information provided by both thin-layer chromatography and FT-IR could provide more complete information for the forensic science examination of an unknown ink. A total of 184 ink samples were analyzed by FT-IR, and searchable spectral libraries were created for both whole and extracted inks. The results indicate that the additional information provided by the DR analysis, combined with the complementary information from the TCL analysis, provides enhanced value to the forensic examination of inks. 13 figures, 4 tables, and 14 references