CHARACTERIZATION OF PAINT FRAGMENTS BY COMBINED TOPOGRAPHICAL AND CHEMICAL ELECTRON OPTICS TECHNIQUES

• NCJ Number: 13582
• Journal: Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 19 Issue: 2 Dated: (APRIL 1974) Pages: 363-371
• Author(s): R WILSON; G JUDD
• Date Published: 1974
• Length: 9 pages
• Corporate Author: American Soc for Testing and Materials
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: PAPER PRESENTED AT 25TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, LAS VEGAS, FEB 23, 1973.

Annotation

SAMPLES WERE EXAMINED WITH THE SPECIFIC AIM OF CHARACTERIZING THE RELIABILITY AND REPRODUCIBILITY OF THE X-RAY SPECTRA OBTAINED.

Abstract

THE APPLICATION OF SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE (SEM) AND ENERGY DISPERSIVE X-RAY ANALYSIS (EDS) TO AUTOMOTIVE PAINT SAMPLES HAS YIELDED INFORMATION OF SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL VALUE IN FORENSIC SCIENCE INVESTIGATIONS. IN ORDER TO EVALUATE DATA, HOWEVER, THE INHERENT VARIATION OF COMPOSITION AND TOPOGRAPHY MUST BE BETTER UNDERSTOOD. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE IN THE CASE OF X-RAY SPECTRA, WHICH CONTAIN INTRINSIC STATISTICAL FLUCTUATIONS. SAMPLES OF THE SAME COLOR PAINTS WERE CHOSEN TO TEST THE SEM-EDS SYSTEM WITH PAINT SAMPLES THAT ARE VERY SIMILAR AND, CONSEQUENTLY, DIFFICULT TO DISTINGUISH BY CURRENT COLOR COMPARISON TECHNIQUES. DATA, IN THE FORM OF SECONDARY ELECTRON MICROGRAPHS AND X-RAY SPECTRA, WERE ACQUIRED AND COMPARISONS AMONG SAMPLES WERE MADE. MINOR ELEMENTS PRESENT IN THE EXTERNAL PAINT LAYER AND THE VARIATIONS IN PRIMER LAYER WERE OF PRINCIPAL INTEREST IN COMPOSITION ANALYSIS. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)