FROM WASTE TO LATENT TRACES VISUALIZATION: THE APPLICATION OF POLY(ETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE)-BASED POWDERS IN DEVELOPMENT OF LATENT FINGERPRINTS
Keywords:
PET Powder, Recycling, Circular Economy, Latent Fingerprints, ForensicsAbstract
Purpose
Polymeric materials are used worldwide in various industries and for different purposes. While natural polymers do not pose a problem for the environment, mainly due to their biodegradability and non-toxic properties, (semi)synthetic polymers represent the major environmental pollutants. The necessity to protect the environment can be supported by the reuse of the discarded plastic materials. Very often, plastic waste must be recycled prior to its further (re)utilization. A number of recycling approaches are used today for these purposes. In this research, we demonstrate the possibility of using recycled PET packaging material for the preparation of powders used in the visualization of latent fingerprints.
Design/Methods/Approach
In this paper, PET-based powder formulations were obtained by PET glycolysis reaction, using ethylene glycol as a solvent. Three different PET packaging materials (having different additives), were used to obtain powders with green, white and blue appearance. Prepared powders were used to visualize latent fingerprints deposited onto non-porous (glass) surface. The structure and properties were compared between prepared powders, while the quality of visualization was specifically investigated by comparing the powders with the commercial and routinely used BVDA Magnetic Silver powder.
Findings
The interactions between components of prepared powders and potential presence of additives were investigated by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analyses. Optical microscopy showed that prepared powders possess round-shaped particles, and uniform in size, which enabled their easy binding to the sweat and lipid fingerprint residues.
Originality/Value
The prepared powders demonstrated good interaction with latent traces when deposited onto a glass substrate. Moreover, high-quality fingerprint images were obtained when compared to those developed using commercial powder. The results showed that powders manufactured from recycled PET could potentially supplement the routinely used fingerprint powders, especially due to their low cost (as they are obtained from waste raw material).
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