The Persistence of Fibres Transferred During Contact of Automobile Carpets and Clothing Fabrics

Abstract

The transfer of fibres is of interest in the investigation of many crimes. In an effort to assess the likelihood or frequency of transfer of automobile carpeting fibres, simulated transfers were carried out in vehicles with several fabric types. Factors which influence fibre transfer were tested, including pressure of contact, nature of recipient material, nature of transferring materials, age and location of carpeting. Increased pressure showed no positive correlation with number of fibres transferred. The more highly textured fabrics, corduroy and wool crepe, picked up the most fibres. The nylon/acrylic carpet shed the greatest number of fibres and carpeting from late model vehicles shed more fibres than the carpeting from older vehicles. The percentage of nylon and polypropylene carpeting fibres still recoverable after wearing recipient fabrics during normal activity was investigated. The polypropylene fibres showed more persistence than the nylon fibres on the fabrics tested and the textured fabrics retained more fibres than the smooth surfaced fabrics. To aid in the investigation of findings of automobile carpeting fibres in casework, data was collected on the type of fibre utilized by some of the major automobile manufacturers.