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Application of micro-XRF in forensic science

Article  in  Microscopy and Microanalysis · July 2012

DOI: 10.1017/S1431927612006630

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956 Microsc. Microanal. 18 (Suppl 2), 2012
doi:10.1017/S1431927612006630 © Microscopy Society of America 2012

Application of Micro-XRF in Forensic Science

S. Mamedov
Horiba Instruments Incorporated, 3880 Park Ave, Edison, New Jersey 08820

X-Ray Fluorescence (X RF) spectroscopy is useful tool for identifying substances and confirm ing
their identity with no or little sample preparation. With the new technology of XRF microscopy and
integrated computer databases of known XRF spectra, nearly any substance can be identified. For
example, XRF can be used to locate the make, model, and year of car by analyzing a paint chip. This
presentation will provide practical insights into the application of the micro-XRF to the analysis of
gunshot residue, trace elements, counterfeit products, museum and archeological objects, and
fingerprints. When a gun is fired, a complex cloud of chemicals leaves the barrel. These materials
(known as gunshot residues, GSR) are deposited on the user, the weapon, the victim and the
surrounding environment. The materials consist of incompletely burned propellant particles, metallic
components of the bullet and characteristic particles of elements originating from the primer, the
bullet, the propellant and the propellant additives. The gunshot residues examined in this work were
deposited on fabric. Figure 1 show s comparison between standard fluorescence optical image and
micro-XRF image of Ba and Pb of the same area. Micro XRF image allows identifies not only
particle but also elemental composition of the particles. The analysis of automotive pain t fragments
is a very important task for many forensic science laboratories. Automotive paint fragments are
frequently present at criminal scenes such as hit-and-run accidents and are submitted to forensic
science laboratories. The obtained samples are often well below a square millimeter in size. Forensic
scientists are asked for information to associate the small automotive paint fragments found at the
criminal scene with those of a suspect car. Therefore, known layer thickness and elemental
distribution becomes important evidence in crime scene investigation. Figure 2 shows elemental
profile of Ti, Pb and Fe of car paint chip. By using XRF technique, differences of specific materials
with identical names (Stainless Steel) but produced by different manufacturers, techniques, or raw
materials are revealed. The purity and the chemical compositions of these materials are tested and the
different compositions identified. T he example of counterfeit and authentic product shows small
differences in com position but these differences allow to identify counterfeit product. Despite the
numerous methods available in forensics, fingerprints left on certain types of substrates or made
under certain conditions are sometimes difficult to detect with conventional contrast methods.
Examples of potentially troublesome substrates include: papers, textiles, woods and some other.
Micro-XRF can be used to examine the chemical components of a fingerprint if sufficient detectable
residue is present. The fingerprint can be identified regardless of the organic background color.
Examples of using micro-XRF for fingerprint identification will be shown. New capabilities of the
energy dispersive XRF (EDXRF) analytical microscope enable the recording of the hyper-spectral
image with spatial resolution as small as 10 micrometers. This means that the data can be mined for
unsuspected elements after the measurements have been made, and that sophisticated multivariate
analysis tools can produce chemical distributions of the elements, in particular with association
between elements that can aid in identification of bonded phases. Chemical and transmission images
showing the elemental and density distribution of several forensics examples along with EDXRF
spectra will be shown.
 Microsc. Microanal. 18 (Suppl 2), 2012 957

 
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Elemental distribution

0.8
Normalized Concentration

0.6 Ti
Fe
Pb
0.4

0.2

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0 24 48 72 96 120 144 168 192 216 240
distance, microns

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