Science & Justice
Volume 51, Issue 4 , Pages 154-162, December 2011

On the frequency of occurrence of a peculiar polyester fibre type found in blue denim textiles

  • Kris De Wael

      Affiliations

    • National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology, Brussels, Belgium
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author at: Fibres and Textiles Laboratory, National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology, Vilvoordsesteenweg 100, 1120 Brussels, Belgium. Tel.: +32 2 243 46 22; fax: +32 2 240 05 36.
    • ,
  • Christiaan Baes

      Affiliations

    • National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology, Brussels, Belgium
    • ,
  • Laurent Lepot

      Affiliations

    • National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology, Brussels, Belgium
    • Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, University of Liège, Belgium
    • ,
  • Fabrice Gason

      Affiliations

    • National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology, Brussels, Belgium

Received 22 November 2010; received in revised form 8 February 2011; accepted 14 February 2011. published online 07 March 2011.

Abstract 

In a double murder investigation, the victims were found after a prolonged stay in a drainage canal. In spite of the expectations, fibre examination established a multitude of primary and secondary transferred fibres. One of these fibre types was a colourless polyester fibre possessing a blue coloured molten fibre end. These matched one of the types present in the suspect's blue denim trousers. The aim of this study was to verify the rarity of this peculiar fibre type and more precisely its presence in blue denim textiles. Over five hundred different blue jeans textiles were examined and only one of these presented exactly the same type. The comparison involved microscopy, microspectrophotometry in the visible range and Raman spectroscopy. The results indicate this fibre type is extremely rare in a blue jeans fabrics and that “standard” blue denim should not be disregarded in case work.

Keywords: Jeans, Blue denim, Indigo, Polyester, Microspectrophotometry (MSP), Raman spectroscopy

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PII: S1355-0306(11)00022-0

doi:10.1016/j.scijus.2011.02.001

Science & Justice
Volume 51, Issue 4 , Pages 154-162, December 2011

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