The application of isotope ratio mass spectrometry for discrimination and comparison of adhesive tapes.

Forensic scientists are frequently requested to differentiate between, or compare, adhesive tapes from a suspect or a crime scene. The most common polymers used to back packaging tape are polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride. Much of the oriented polypropylene (OPP) needed to produce packaging tapes, regardless of the tape brand, is supplied by just a few polymer manufacturers. Consequently, the composition of the backing material varies little. Therefore, the discriminating power of classical methods (physical fit, tape dimensions, colour, morphology, FTIR, PyGC/MS, etc.) is limited. Analysis of stable isotopes using isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) has been applied in the broad area of forensics and it has been reported that isotope analysis is a valuable tool for the identification of adhesive tapes. We have tested the usefulness of this method by distinguishing different South Korean adhesive tapes produced by just a few manufacturers in the small South Korean market. Korean adhesive tapes were collected and analysed for their isotope signatures. The glue of the tapes was separated from the backing material and these sub-samples were analysed for their H- and C-isotope composition. The result shows the possibility for discriminating most tape samples, even from the same brand. Variations within single rolls have also been investigated, where no variations in H- and C-isotope composition significantly exceeding the standard deviation were found.