Examination of Car Paint Samples Using Visible Microspectrometry for Forensic Purposes

Abstract

Visible (Vis) microspectrometry (MSP) allows objective measurement of color as opposed to the subjective results of visual color comparison. In this paper, the usefulness of this method for comparison of small car paint traces of the same color and the same or different chroma was studied for forensic purposes. Sixteen samples of solid and metallic bright and dark red paints taken from different cars were examined. Each sample was measured in the reflectance mode using a light beam falling perpendicular to the top surface of the sample and on a cross-section. In addition to the MSP measurements, the Raman spectra were produced in order to detect the pigment composition of the samples. On the basis of the obtained results it was stated that discrimination of car paints of the same color is conditioned not only by the kind, number, and amount of the pigments, but rather by the morphology of the paint layer, that is, by the size, shape, orientation, and distribution of the pigment grains in a paint resin. A criterion allowing two samples of the same chroma to be distinguished was established.

Keywords:

• Forensic science
• Paint examination
• Raman spectrometry
• Visible microspectrometry