Multicomponent characterization and differentiation of flash bangers - Part II: Elemental profiling of plastic caps

This study builds on the multicomponent analysis strategy for flash bangers which was previously introduced and where a representative sample set has been collected of a certain type of flash bangers. To expand the forensic strategy, elemental analysis of the plastic caps which are present in these items was performed. Both x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis was performed to explore the possibilities for differentiation. The inherent inhomogeneity of the plastics resulted in high variations, especially for LA-ICP-MS trace analysis. In addition, due to the lack of suitable reference materials the LA-ICP-MS results can only be used for qualitative comparisons. Although XRF is less sensitive it allows for semi-quantitative analysis and the effect of inhomogeneity is significantly reduced due to the larger sample areas. Therefore, XRF is the method of choice for elemental analysis of intact plastic caps. In this scenario initial differentiation based on visual examination is combined with elemental analysis to obtain the highest degree of discrimination. In post-explosive scenarios, using XRF is not as straightforward due the irregular shapes of the burned plastic cap residues and contamination by explosive residues. For the analysis of these post-explosive caps, LA-ICP-MS proved to be useful for characterization and differentiation. Overall, it was found that blue caps contain a considerable higher amount of elements than the white caps, mainly due to additives related to the coloring process. This limits differentiation for the flash bangers containing white caps. Therefore, isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) analysis was performed to increase the differentiation potential. Based on carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios additional sets could be distinguished, both for flash bangers containing white and blue caps, that otherwise have similar visual and elemental characteristics. With the elemental and isotopic analysis of the plastic caps, an analysis strategy has been introduced that is not based on the pyrotechnic charge and therefore provides a unique opportunity to perform characterization and differentiation of flash bangers in pre- and post-explosive casework.