#analysisoffiberinforensicscience

[forensicfield]

Analysis of Fiber Colors and Dyes

➿ The vast majority of fibers used in commercial applications are colored.

➿ Fiber color is one of the most important properties in the comparison of fibers.

〽️ There are a variety of methods for characterizing the color of the dyes in the fibers. They fall into three major categories:

1.) Visual:The visual method is the simple observation and comparison of the fiber colors by use of the unaided eye. Visual comparison is easy, fast, accurate and non- destructive. It is a crucial first step in any fiber comparison, as many otherwise similar fibers can be excluded from consideration by color.

2.) Chemical:Chemical methods, which include thin layer chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography, address the make-up of the dyes used to color the fiber. (This latter statement is an important distinction: analyzing the color of a fiber is not the same as analyzing the dyes used to color that fiber.)

3.)Instrumental- Instrumental analyses include microspectrophotometry in the UV and/or visible ranges and, more rarely, spectrophotometric measurement of fluorescence.