Dating of black gel pen ink using the dissolution–diffusion method

Abstract

In many criminal and civil cases in China, the most commonly questioned documents are those written with gel pen ink. An important task for forensic document examiners is to identify whether two or more ink entries in one or more documents were written with the same ink type. The identification of the age of gel ink entries made poses an important and difficult problem for forensic document examiners. In this paper, a dissolution–diffusion method was successfully employed to estimate the relative age of gel ink entries by comparing dissolution–diffusion rates. Using extensive tests, the mixed solution of dimethyl formamide (DMF) and anhydrous ethanol proved to be a suitable solvent and was used to dissolve the dye of gel ink strokes made at different times. As preliminary findings of this study, calibration curves were created to indicate the relationship between the average dissolution–diffusion rate of soluble gel ink components and the age of gel ink entries stored under natural aging conditions. It was also determined that brands of gel inks, types of paper and thickness of gel ink strokes had varying impacts on estimating the dates of gel ink strokes. Experimental results showed that dissolution–diffusion method was applicable for determining the relative age of gel ink entries under certain conditions.