Azman, Nur Adila
(2022)
Discrimination of matches using ATR-FTIR
spectroscopy and chemometrics.
Masters thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Abstract
Matches are one of the trace evidence that could be encountered at the crime
scenes of arson cases. Forensic analysis of matches may serve as crucial corroborating
evidence to link the suspect to the crime scene or the victim. Nonetheless, matches
evidence has been overlooked, due to presence of other prominent evidence, often
contaminated with other fire post-debris, and trace in quantity. Furthermore, there has
been very limited research in the past on the analysis of matches for forensic
applications. In the present study, a rapid, non-destructive, sensitive, and reliable
analytical technique namely Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform-Infrared
(ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy has been utilised to differentiate 11 brands of matches
samples. Principal Component Analysis- Linear Discriminant Analysis (PCA-LDA)
was employed to generate objective interpretation of the results. The 95.8% accuracy
of predictive PCA-LDA model was established with almost all matchstick, unburnt
match head, and burnt match head correctly classified to their respective brands. The
blind test was conducted with two unknown samples (pretended to be unknown to the
analyst) in two different conditions, which were correctly link with their respective
source. The current work demonstrated a quick, cost-effective, robust, and nondestructive
method for differentiation of matches samples in forensic investigation.
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