Fundamental studies of the adhesion of explosives to textile and non-textile surfaces

The recovery of explosives evidence from textile surfaces can be vital during a forensic investigation. When constructing an explosive device, it is likely that traces of explosives will be transferred to the bomb-maker ’s clothing [1,2]. For example, traces of PETN were found on the clothing of the Oklahoma City bomber. Similarly, traces of explosives were found on the clothing of the foiled ‘Millenium bomber’ [2]. Other textile surfaces such as carpets have also been demonstrated to be a good matrix for ret aining explosives, with nitrate ester explosives reported to have a particularly high affinity for such substrates [3].
Source: Forensic Science International - Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Source Type: research