Keywords

Forensic, Fiber, Textiles, Microscopy, Database

Abstract

Forensic fiber examination is an important part of trace evidence analysis. Fibers may be recovered from a crime scene that could link a particular suspect to the scene. Clothing fibers are most frequently encountered but automobile carpeting fibers may also be recovered. An understanding of the frequency of occurrence and the discrimination power of different analytical techniques is needed in order to better establish the evidentiary value of automobile carpet fiber evidence. Seventy-five automobile carpet fiber samples were analyzed using a series of techniques ranging from nondestructive to destructive. These techniques included polarized light microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, microspectrophotometry, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, microtomy (cross section analysis), dye extraction and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Based on the information obtained from these techniques an overall discrimination of 98.02% was calculated. Only 55 of 2775 pairwise comparisons were indistinguishable. The information was subsequently entered into a searchable database for general public use.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2006

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Sigman, Michael

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Chemistry

Degree Program

Chemistry

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0001483

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0001483

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Included in

Chemistry Commons

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