Forensic differentiation of paper by X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy

The possibility to discriminate between sheets of paper can be of considerable importance in questioned document examinations. 19 similar types of office paper were characterized by infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction to individuate the most discriminating features that could be measured by these techniques. The discriminating value associated to them was also assessed. By using a sequence of these two techniques, all the samples could be differentiated. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.