Characterisation of paint samples by infrared and Raman spectroscopy for criminalistic purposes

Infrared microspectrometry and Raman microscopy were applied in characterisation of paint coatings, i.e. in identification of pigments and in differentiation between paint samples of similar colour and shade. The use of different excitation lasers enabled us to reduce the fluorescence of the sample and identify the main pigments present in the sample. It was shown that Raman mapping has great potential for the forensic study of paint samples. It is useful because paints are usually chemically complex and heterogeneous mixtures and spectroscopic images allow an assessment of the chemical heterogeneity of a specimen in terms of the spatial distribution of the molecular constituents. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.