VACUUM COATING TECHNIQUE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF LATENT FINGERPRINTS ON POLYTHENE

• NCJ Number: 37354
• Journal: Journal of the Forensic Science Society Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Dated: (APRIL 1976) Pages: 93-101
• Author(s): T KENT; G L THOMAS; T E REYNOLDSON
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 9 pages
• Corporate Author: Forensic Science Soc
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

A DESCRIPTION OF THE LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS AND OPERATIONAL TRIALS OF A VACUUM DEPOSITION TECHNIQUE WHICH HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY USED TO DEVELOP LATENT FINGERPRINTS ON LOW DENSITY POLYETHYLENE (POLYTHENE) PACKAGING FILM.

Abstract

THE EXPERIMENTS DESCRIBED IN THIS ARTICLE SHOW THAT A METAL DEPOSITION TECHNIQUE INVOLVING APPLICATION OF METALS SUCH AS GOLD, SILVER, AND CADMIUM INSIDE A VACUUM CHAMBER IS HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL. IT WAS FOUND THAT VACUUM PLANT REQUIRED WAS STRAIGHTFORWARD TO OPERATE AND POTENTIAL USERS REQUIRED A FEW HOURS TRAINING TO BECOME ADEPT AT THE PROCESS. OTHER THAN OPERATOR TIME THE EQUIPMENT RUNNING COSTS ARE NEGLIGIBLE, THE COST OF THE COST OF THE METAL DEPOSITED BEING MINUTE. WHILE IT WOULD SEEM THAT FILM IS LIKELY TO BE THE MAJOR TYPE OF OPERATIONAL POLYTHENE, THE PROCESS WAS ALSO FOUND TO BE APPLICABLE TO BULK MATERIAL SUCH AS KITCHENWARE AND CONTAINERS. THE PROCESS ALSO WORKED WELL ON OTHER PLASTIC MATERIALS WITH THE NOTABLE EXCEPTION OF HEAVILY PLASTICISED PVC (POLYVINYL CHLORIDE). (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)