Original scientific paper

Characterization of Ballpoint Pen Inks

Veronika Marinović ; Forensic Science Centre Ivan Vučetić *
Stjepan Brzica ; Forensic Science Centre Ivan Vučetić
Andrea Ledić ; Forensic Science Centre Ivan Vučetić

* Corresponding author.

Abstract

Analyzing ballpoint inks has always been a challenge for forensic scientists, since ballpoint pens can be used to create various types of forgeries. Ballpoint pen inks are mixtures that mainly consist of dyes, organic solvents and additives. More specific information about the composition of ballpoint pen ink is not available from the manufacturer due to confidentiality, and it is unknown, which dyes and other components are used by individual ballpoint pen ink manufacturers, so it is important to determine and identify the components of the ink. The basic approach in determining the differences in the composition of ballpoint pen inks is the identification of the dyes that make up the inks. Blue ballpoint pen inks usually contain triarylmethane dyes: Crystal Violet (CV), Methyl Violet (MV), tetramethylpararosaniline, (Tetra-PRS) and Victoria Blue B (VB). The chemical composition of the ink can be determined by different methods of chemical analysis, and in this work, the High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method was used for the analysis of the ink. The characterization of the analyzed blue ballpoint pen ink samples was carried out based on the chemical analysis of the ink, i.e. by determining the chemical composition of the dyes and determining the similarities and differences in the qualitative and quantitative chemical composition of the detected components in the blue ballpoint inks of different manufacturers.

Keywords

Characterization, Ballpoint pen inks, Dyes, HPLC, Forensics

Hrčak ID:

324934

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/324934

Publication date:

23.12.2024.

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