SPECTROMICROGRAPHY AND COLORIMETRY - SAMPLE AND INSTRUMENTAL EFFECTS

Fiber comparison in forensic casework touches on many technical and legal areas including fiber manufacturing, thread and yarn production, knitting and weaving, dyeing, fabric ageing, fiber transfer, transferred fiber collection, analysis, evidence preservation, establishment of the limits and conclusions of testimony, and finally, maintaining meaningful and current reference materials, test equipment and proficiency studies. This paper will focus on the area of dye analysis in fiber comparisons and the specific instrumental analysis techniques of visible spectromicrography and colorimetry. The discussion will concentrate on instrumental effects that can damage or skew data.