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Evaluation of the Forensic Utility of Scanning Electron Microscopy‐Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy and Laser Ablation‐Inductively Coupled Plasma‐Mass Spectrometry for Printing Ink Examinations
Author(s) -
Corzo Ruthmara,
Subedi Kiran,
Trejos Tatiana,
Almirall José R.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.13110
Subject(s) - inkwell , scanning electron microscope , materials science , mass spectrometry , laser ablation , analytical chemistry (journal) , energy dispersive x ray spectroscopy , spectroscopy , inductively coupled plasma , inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry , laser , chemistry , plasma , optics , chromatography , composite material , physics , quantum mechanics
Improvements in printing technology have exacerbated the problem of document counterfeiting, prompting the need for analytical techniques that better characterize inks for forensic analysis and comparisons. In this study, 319 printing inks (toner, inkjet, offset, and Intaglio) were analyzed directly on the paper substrate using scanning electron microscopy‐energy dispersive spectroscopy ( SEM ‐ EDS ) and Laser Ablation‐Inductively Coupled Plasma‐Mass Spectrometry ( LA ‐ ICP ‐ MS ). As anticipated, the high sensitivity of LA ‐ ICP ‐ MS pairwise comparisons resulted in excellent discrimination (average of ~ 99.6%) between different ink samples from each of the four ink types and almost 100% correct associations between ink samples known to originate from the same source. SEM ‐ EDS analysis also resulted in very good discrimination for different toner and intaglio inks (>97%) and 100% correct association for samples from the same source. SEM ‐ EDS provided complementary information to LA ‐ ICP ‐ MS for certain ink types but showed limited utility for the discrimination of inkjet and offset inks.