Abstract Interdisciplinary methods and thermal analytical techniques in particular are effective tools in aiding the identification and characterization of materials in question involved in civil or criminal law. Forensic material science uses systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through analysis, observation and experimentation. Thermal analytical data can be used to aid the legal system in interpreting technical variations in quite often a complex system. Calorimetry and thermal microscopic methods helped define a commercial product composed of alkanes that was involved in a major law suit. The solid-state structures of a number of normal alkanes have unique crystal structures. These alkanes melt and freeze below room temperature to more than 60°C below zero. Mixtures of specific alkanes have attributes of pure chemicals. The X-ray diffraction structure of a mixture of alkanes is the same as a pure alkane, but the melting and freezing temperature are significantly lower than predicted. The jury ruled that the product containing n-alkanes had the appropriate melting characteristics. The thermal-physical properties made a commercial fluid truly unique and there was no advertising infringement according to the law and the jury trial A combination of thermogravimetry, differential thermal analysis, infrared spectroscopy and macrophotography were used to conduct an extensive modeling and analysis of physical evidence obtained in a mobile home fire and explosion. A person's death was allegedly linked to the misuse of a kerosene space heater. The thermal analytical techniques showed that external heating was the cause of the space heater's deformation, not a firing of the heater with gasoline and kerosene.
[1]
H. M. Huffman,et al.
Low-temperature Thermal Data for the Nine Normal Paraffin Hydrocarbons from Octane to Hexadecane
,
1954
.
[2]
K. Roberts,et al.
X-ray powder diffraction studies of alkanes: unit-cell parameters of the homologous series C18H38 to C28H58
,
1991
.
[3]
F. Rossini,et al.
Purification, Purity, and Freezing Points of Sixty-four American Petroleum Institute Standard and Research Hydrocarbons
,
1955
.
[4]
S. H. Roby,et al.
Low-temperature properties of crankcase motor oils: A fundamental approach to pumpability phenomena
,
1994
.
[5]
Susan M. Dyszel,et al.
Country of origin of peanuts: A comparison of statistical software for discriminant analysis of DSC results
,
1996
.
[6]
Bruce Cassel,et al.
Forensic Applications of Differential Scanning Calorimetry
,
1975
.