Comparative application of sem and fe-sem in the determination of the sequence of crossing of printer ink lines with writing pen inks Kaur Gurleen1,*, Kaur Ridamjeet2 1Research Scholar, Department of Forensic Science, Chandigarh University, Gharuan, Punjab, India, Email: gurleen2597@gmail.com 2Associate Professor, Department of Forensic Science, Chandigarh University, Gharuan, Punjab, India, Email: Ridamjeet.kaur@cumail.in *Corresponding Author Gurleen Kaur, Research Scholar, Department of Forensic Science, Chandigarh University, Gharuan, Punjab, India, Email: gurleen2597@gmail.com
Online published on 6 March, 2023. Abstract Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM) has remained one of the reliable physical techniques in forensic applications for evidence analysis. Many attempts were made with SEM for identifying the order of crossing lines in case of tampered or build up documents. The present study has been aimed to establish the utility of scanning electron microscopy and explore the use of field emission-scanning electron microscopy in determining the sequence of crossing lines of laser printer and inkjet printer with ballpoint pen and gel pen inked text. The samples of crossing lines of gel pen and ballpoint pen inks (red, blue and black) with inkjet printed text (red, blue and black) and laser printed text (black) were prepared on three different substrates that include A4 office paper, bond paper and stamp paper. The samples of crossing lines were examined on the basis of topographical features at the point of intersection. It was found that scanning electron microscopy proved to be effective in revealing the sequence of crossing lines of ballpoint pen and gel pen (red, blue and black) with laser printer line of black colour on all three different substrates on the basis regularity and irregularity of pen ink line and laser printer stroke. However, inconclusive results were found in determining the crossing lines of ballpoint pen and gel pen (red, blue and black) with inkjet printed text of all colors using SEM. Alternatively, field - emission Scanning Electron Microscopy proved to be ineffective technique for determining the sequence of selected text strokes as it was unable to reveal any identification feature at the crossing area. Top Keywords Sequence determination, Crossing lines, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Printer inks, Writing pen inks. Top |