Forensic analysis of tire rubbers based on their sulfur chemical states

• Discrimination of tire rubbers is studied based on their sulfur chemical states, or sulfur XANES.
• The tire rubbers, even tires of the same brand, can be discriminated based on the sulfur XANES.
• As a result of the t-test, 43 of 55 combinations are different at a significance level of 5%.

The chemical states of sulfur in 11 tires were analyzed using X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) in order to discriminate between various tire rubbers. All tires had peaks around 2471.5 and 2480.5 eV, and the shapes and heights of these peaks differed among tires, suggesting that the sulfur chemical state could be used for discrimination between tire rubbers. Based on t-tests on the results of XANES, 43 of 55 combinations were different at a significance level of 5%.