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USA:URI textile researchers develop extensive fiber
database to analyze dyed fibers for FBI |
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2005-1-6
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The University of Rhode Island researchers have developed a fiber database for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which commenced in October 2002 with the help of 400 fiber samples. By the completion of the project this year, more than 1,800 samples were provided to the federal law enforcement agency.
Professors Martin Bide and Margaret Ordonez of URI’s Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design joined up on the US$134,000 FBI contract after learning of research opportunities with the FBI through their participation in the URI Forensic Science Partnership.
“The FBI is interested in refining its textile analysis processes because fibers play such a critical role in forensic investigations,“ Bide said.
The research team collected different fibers from commercial companies and drew on the extensive library of dyes in the department. By using a new dyeing machine for the project, small samples of fiber were dyed with many different dyes and dye mixtures.
A permanent microscopic slide was made for each dyed specimen, a digital microscope image was generated and a small sample of fiber of each specimen was placed in coin-holder envelopes and placed in three-ring binders.
The image and details of the fiber and dye were stored in a database that filled four compact discs. All detailed information was given to the FBI Research Center at Quantico, Va. so that it can examine the best ways to analyze the dyed fibers.
“This is another reason why we benefit from being in the Forensic Science Partnership. We do fiber analysis for the Rhode Island State Crime lab and this was a natural extension of that work,” said Bide.
The research team included graduate students, an undergraduate and a visiting scholar.
Martin Bide, an internationally renowned textile chemist, oversaw the dyeing, while Ordonez, of Cumberland, R.I., an international expert in textile conservation, conducted the microscopy for the project.
Ms Margaret Ordonez said, “This project used a lot of expertise we have here.”
The undergraduate and graduate students were involved in the project work, including dyeing and drying fibers, making slides of the samples, photographing cross-sections and entering them into the database that describes the fibers and the conditions under which they were dyed.
The cross-sections of fibers, which are finer than a human hair, reveal a range of differences in colors, shapes, sizes, and unevenness in the ways they absorb dyes.
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