Problems of Forensic Sciences 2015 Vol. 104 (CIV) 279-302
PHYSICOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF INK − DATING AND ESTABLISHING THE SEQUENCE OF INTERSECTING LINES OF INK ENTRIES
Alicja MENŻYK1, Grzegorz ZADORA1, 2, Mieczysław SAJEWICZ1
1Institute of Chemistry, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
2Institute of Forensic Research, Kraków, Poland
Streszczenie
Ink dating is an extremely challenging issue − probably one of the most complicated tasks that forensic examiners are often faced with. There are generally three different approaches that can be applied to establish the date of deposition of an ink entry on a questioned document. The static approach attempts to characterize the composition of stable components of ink, which are supposed to be specific to a certain production period, whereas dynamic dating (both relative and absolute) focuses on determining a relationship between the period of time since deposition and the physicochemical processes (ink degradation) that have occurred over that period of time. As the requirements for static and relative dynamic approaches are usually not fulfilled, the main effort is currently being put into creating new methods and improving already existing ones, which in most cases are based on the analysis of volatile ink compounds. This paper is aimed at reviewing methods used for estimating the time since deposition of ink on a questioned document. Chromatographic as well as spectroscopic methods are characterised, giving special consideration to those published in recent years (2000−2015). Finally, the most relevant approaches applied to determine the sequence of intersecting lines are also presented. Despite many new methods offering possible solutions to the problem of ink dating, most techniques lack repeatability and reproducibility of results. In order to better understand ink-ink and ink-paper interactions, further studies, as well as implementation of statistical methods for more objective examination of crossed ink lines, are necessary.
Słowa kluczowe
Ink dating studies; Ink ageing processes; Relative and absolute dating; Sequence of intersecting lines.