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Medico-legal significance
Paint : Suspension of pigments and binders to color or protect a surface.
Vital evidence in hit and run case and
burglary : Associate an individual, object
(e.g., tool) or vehicle with a crime scene. In
Forensic examination hit and run case, a chip of dried paint may
transferred to victim clothes. Paint smears
of paint could be transferred onto a tool during
commission of a burglary.
Dinesh K Jha Can identify year, model of a car by paint
Chief Scientific Officer
recovered at an accident (Needs paint data
query)
Automobile paint Collection
Most commonly encountered paint evidence. Collect all loose/transferred paint materials using non-metallic
Automotive coatings; tools like plastic forceps in glass vials.
Pretreatment : Inhibit rust. Collect known paint sample from areas as close as possible to
Primer : Provides better adhesion for next coating. points of damage (because of manufacturing/post painting
Top coat : Actual seen color.
variation between parts). Known sample must contain all layers.
Clear coats : Improve gloss and durability.
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Analysis Interpretation
Compare two or more paints for their
Reliably exclude.
common origin.
In case of match, statistical evaluation is difficult.
Physical and microscopic examination :
Most opinion “could have has a common origin”
• Determine color and type of paint.
• Physical matches of an irregular contour between suspected
and exemplars.
• Number of layer, their color and relative thickness.
Chemical tests : Different paint have different chemical
composition and thus differential solubility in various solvents.
Instrumental methods : Infrared spectroscopy, Pyrolysis gas
chromatography, Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray
diffraction, Neutron activation analysis.
