ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Published Online: 1 November 1987
Page Count: 15

A Critical Evaluation of Current Ink Dating Techniques
Cantu, AA
Research chemist, U.S. Secret Service, DC

Brunelle, RL
Deputy director (Laboratory Services), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, MD

(Received 2 March 1987; accepted 20 April 1987)

Abstract

Advances in ways to date inks have been publicized over the past 17 years. As a result, Government agencies and the private sector now rely heavily on these techniques in criminal and civil litigations. As new procedures have become known, more forensic scientists are asked to perform ink dating examinations. While the capabilities of these techniques are generally known, their limitations are not. This paper evaluates the current approaches used for dating writing inks and takes a critical look at conclusions that can be made on the basis of the different laboratory techniques.

Keywords:
questioned documents, inks, extraction, tagging, ink library, relative aging, solvent extraction, solubility, thin-layer chromatography, densitometry, fluorescence spectroscopy, gas chromatography, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Paper ID: JFS11212J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS11212J
ASTM International is a member of CrossRef.