Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and forensic applications

Abstract

Abstract Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) is a non-destructive analytical technique that can be applied to a wide range of materials. The method requires no pretreatment of the sample, various geometries can be used and as many as 40 elements can be determined at the ppb–ppm level, depending on the characteristics of the specific sample. The method has been used in a number of forensic applications, such as identifying the source of ammunition, gunshot residue, arsenic in hair and the source of cigarettes. In this contribution, INAA is applied to characterizing ceramics, maple syrups and grasses, and based on the data it is possible to distinguish between various types of ceramics, sources of maple syrup and the geographical/geological locations of grass samples. As an example of an environmental forensic application, it is shown that a tree-ring record can be used to map the history of environmental pollution associated with a zinc smelter. Additional applications involve characterizing the products of nuclear detonations and the provenance of diamonds.