SCALE'S MORPHOLOGY - POWERFUL TOOL IN FORENSIC IDENTIFICATION OF WOOL FIBRES

Forensic identification of textile fibres that might occur as material evidence in crime and/or accidental situations is specific case of fibre identification. Although well known method of keratin fibres identification i.e. microscopic appearance of fibres (scales, medullation, cross section shape...) is one of the most useful techniques in forensic fibres identification it might still be more useful if it will be utilised as a differentiation tool for recognising fibres of individual sub-breed within single animal type (e.g. one sheep breed). This paper shows how this can be realised by determination of fibre scales microarchitecture.