Determination of Sequence of Ball Point Pen Writing Utilising Infrared Luminescence Techniques

Abstract

The configuration of the groove pattern of a ball pen stroke passing over an existing ball pen stroke can lead to a modified groove construction at the cross-over point which results in positive evidence regarding the sequence of pen strokes. Clear definition of groove intersections can generally only be seen if two different inks of considerably different shade have been employed (eg red/black, red/blue). In practice, the vast majority of documents submitted to the author's laboratory for examination are completed in blue ball pen ink which precludes the reliable visualisation of the intersecting groove pattern. Consequently, infrared and infrared luminescence techniques under high magnification have been employed to highlight the groove patterns of different intersecting ink strokes and hence assist in the determination of sequence of ink strokes.