Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Procedures for Validating the Performance of Instruments Used for Automated Inorganic Gunshot Residue Analysis

Published

Author(s)

Nicholas Ritchie, J Matney Wyatt, Doug DeGaetano, Ludwig Niewoehner, Frank Platek, David Edwards

Abstract

The reliability of forensic inorganic gunshot residue (iGSR) analysis depends strongly on the performance of the scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM- EDX) instrument and the software that automates the data acquisition. Without a record of the baseline performance of the instrument, it is often hard to know when performance has deteriorated. This paper provides a set of tests which can be performed when the instrument is commissioned, or when significant modifications are made, to establish the baseline performance and a smaller set of tests that can be performed regularly to document the current performance of the instrument. Together, these represent a powerful way to establish, document and evaluate the performance of the instrumentation used for iGSR analysis. Furthermore, most of these tests are suitable for characterizing SEM-EDX instruments used for other forensic or non- forensic uses.
Citation
Forensic Chemistry

Keywords

GSR, gunshot residue, automated SEM/EDX, SEM, EDX, EDS

Citation

Ritchie, N. , Wyatt, J. , DeGaetano, D. , Niewoehner, L. , Platek, F. and Edwards, D. (2020), Procedures for Validating the Performance of Instruments Used for Automated Inorganic Gunshot Residue Analysis, Forensic Chemistry, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=927874 (Accessed March 29, 2024)
Created August 1, 2020, Updated August 26, 2022