Reactions Involved in Fingerprint Development Using the Cyanoacrylate - Fuming Method

Conference · Mon Jul 30 04:00:00 EDT 2001

OSTI ID:789254

Lewis, L A

The Learning Objective is to present the basic chemistry research findings to the forensic community regarding development of latent fingerprints using the cyanoacrylate fuming method. Chemical processes involved in the development of latent fingerprints using the cyanoacrylate fuming method have been studied, and will be presented. Two major types of latent prints have been investigated--clean (eccrine) and oily (sebaceous) prints. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used as a tool for determining the morphology of the polymer developed separately on clean and oily prints after cyanoacrylate fuming. A correlation between the chemical composition of an aged latent fingerprint, prior to development, and the quality of a developed fingerprint was observed in the morphology. The moisture in the print prior to fuming was found to be a critical factor for the development of a useful latent print. In addition, the amount of time required to develop a high quality latent print was found to be minimal. The cyanoacrylate polymerization process is extremely rapid. When heat is used to accelerate the fuming process, typically a period of 2 minutes is required to develop the print. The optimum development time is dependent upon the concentration of cyanoacrylate vapors within the enclosure.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, TN (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP) (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22800
• OSTI ID: 789254
• Report Number(s): Y/DK-1184
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CRIME DETECTION
FINGERS
MOISTURE
MORPHOLOGY
PATTERN RECOGNITION
POLYMERIZATION
POLYMERS
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY