• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.315-321
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• 2004

The aim of this study was to investigate the evidential value of blue and black ballpoint pens on paper by nondestructive techniques. In this work, 21 blue and 22 black ballpoint pens which were purchased on different brands were analyzed by Raman Spectroscopy and Video Spectral Comparator (VSC). Surface-Enhanced Resonance Raman Spectroscopy (SERRS) with excitation at 685 nm and VSC with several spot light filters were used for the discrimination of ballpoint pen inks. In the SERR spectra, the ballpoint pen inks on paper could be shown sharp spectral bands and distinguished by their band shapes and relative intensities. In the blue and black ballpoint pen inks, the discriminating powers (DP) by SERRS were 0.85 and 0.67 and the DP by VSC were 0.88 and 0.90, respectively. The DP by combined sequence of techniques was all 0.97 in both black and blue ballpoint pen inks.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.271-277
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• 2004

The aim of this study was to investigate questioned documents written with blue or black ballpoint pen on paper by nondestructive technique. In this work, 21 blue and 22 black ballpoint pen inks which were purchased on different brands were analyzed by using Microspectrophotometry (MSP). The reflectance spectra were obtained from these ink samples and their shapes and the wavelength of the maximum intensity were compared. In the blue and black ballpoint pen inks, the discriminating powers (DP) were 0.85 and 0.61, respectively. The changes of the reflectance intensity at their wavelength of maximum intensity and their shapes appeared according to the exposure time to sunshine in a laboratory, especially in the blue ballpoint pen inks. Therefore it is possible to distinguish ink entries on the same paper with the relative age in case of questioned letters written with blue ballpoint pen.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.414-422
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• 2010

In forensic examinations of question document, analysis about inks components and the dating of ink entries is often of considerable importance and forensic examination of inks is principally concerned with the classification and comparison of chemically complex mixtures. The authenticity about inks analysis of a questioned document may be examined through the analysis of inks used to TLC, HPLC/MS, GC/MS, LDI/MS. We collected 56 difference types of black ballpoint pen inks manufactured from 5 country groups. We identified major 6 species volatile organic components (VOCs), ethylbenzene ($0.089-0.244\;{\mu}g$/mL), o-xylene ($0.072-0.331\;{\mu}g$/mL), m,p-xylene ($0.062-0.318\;{\mu}g$/mL), benzene ($0.003-0.173\;{\mu}g$/mL), 1,1-dichloroethylene ($0.003-0.295\;{\mu}g$/mL), toluene ($0.007-0.484\;{\mu}g$/mL) using HS-SPME GC/MS. The results of this study indicated that determined VOCs of black ballpoint pen inks could make a discriminating tool of inks analysis for forensic question document and can supply methodology for classification and identification of between ballpoints pen inks.