Preliminary Stable Isotope Analyses for Propellant Discrimination in Shotshells
【Abstract】
Rationale This study aimed to develop methods to determine the identity and trace the origin of propellants used in shotshells. Specifically, the use of organic component and stable isotope analysis techniques, such as bulk stable isotope analysis (BSIA) and compound‐specific isotope analysis (CSIA) techniques, for the study of shotshell propellants was investigated. were performed on nine samples of shotshell propellants from different manufacturing countries and brands, which had different uses. Methods Nine samples of shotshell propellants from different manufacturing countries and brands were analyzed for explosive and additive components by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and thin layer chromatography (TLC). BSIA of the propellants was achieved using elemental analy/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (EA/IRMS) without a pretreatment process. For the CSIA of nitroglycerin (NG), double‐base powder propellants were extracted with ether, and the isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen were measured by GC/IRMS. Results Nine samples drawn from seven brands in four countries were classified into five groups by the organic component analysis, while eight classification groups were identified by the BSIA. Thus, two samples could not be distinguished from each other by both BSIA and organic components analysis. Subsequently, with the use of results obtained by CSIA for NG, all the samples could be classified into different groups. These findings suggest that the nine propellant samples were all composed of different ingredients or raw materials from different sources. Conclusions Stable isotope ratio analyses were performed for propellant discrimination. The combined BSIA, CSIA, and organic component analysis techniques were able to successfully distinguish the nine shotshell propellants from seven brands sourced from four different countries, and the results suggested that the samples contained different ingredients or raw materials from different sources. We therefore can conclude that reliable results can be obtained by using combined isotope analysis methods such as the CSIA and BSIA for origin tracing and identity determination.
【Author】
Nam Yee Kim, Byeong‐Yeol Song, Dong‐Hwan Kim, Min‐ji Jung
【Journal】
Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry(IF：2) Time：2021-02-23
