Comparison of general cyanoacrylate and sirchie cyanoacrylate for latent fingerprint on non-porous surfaces by cyanosafe fuming chamber with Airsafe controller

Abstract

The present study aims to compare the number of minutiae from latent fingerprints treated with five cyanoacrylate adhesives, ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate concentrations ranging from 84.5 – 99.5%, to the forensically specific ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate adhesives (ECA Sirchie). The result showed that the number of minutiae obtained from the 99.5% ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate adhesive was comparable to that from ECA Sirchie when the fuming time is 40 minutes. The fingerprints treated with the 99.5% cyanoacrylate adhesive were stored at room temperature for 4 months and the result showed that their minutia remained detectable. Furthermore, the durability of latent fingerprints prior to cyanoacrylate fuming was tested using the fingerprint stored at room temperature for 1, 7, 14, and 30 days. Following the fuming with the 99.5% ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate adhesive, it was revealed that the fingerprints stored for 1 day showed a good to very good quality. Expectedly, the fingerprints kept for 30 days showed a medium quality. In conclusion, this study showed that the 99.5% ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate adhesive can be effectively used for the development of latent fingerprints and could replace ECA Sirchie. This can reduce the cost of cyanoacrylate fuming techniques since the 99.5% ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate adhesive is cheaper than ECA Sirchie.