Digital Mapping of Differential Oxidation Arising from Fingerprint Sweat Deposits on α-Phase Brass

John W. Bond, Trudy Loe

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Abstract:

Visualization of differential oxidation on phase brass, subject to heating to temperatures of up to 600°C, is shown to be enhanced by selective digital mapping of colors reflected from the surface of the brass using Adobe® Photoshop®. Enhancement is optimal when the brass is heated to ~250°C with areas of oxidation having a mirror like appearance. The use of this enhancement method to visual- ize fingerprint sweat deposits on brass cartridge cases is demonstrated.

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This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction, provided the original work is properly cited and not changed in any way.

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