Interlaboratory evaluations of the performance of elemental analytical methods for the forensic analysis and comparisons of electrical tapes.
Abstract
Adhesive tapes are an important type of evidence related to violent crimes such as the construction of improvised explosive devices and kidnappings as well as involved in other types of common evidence such as drug packaging. The methods of comparison of tape evidence consist of physical and microscopic examination followed by chemical analysis of the organic and inorganic components inherent to the tapes as part of their formulations. This work evaluates the performance of the conventional methods used in forensic analysis of adhesive tapes (physical and microscopic examination, FTIR, Py-GC-MS, and SEM-EDS) and the more recently developed elemental methods, LIBS and LA-ICP-MS, for the comparison of tape samples in different laboratories.
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