Detection of visually unrecognizable braking tracks using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, a feasibility study

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Authors

PROCHAZKA David BILÍK Martin PROCHAZKOVÁ Petra BRADA Michal KLUS Jakub POŘÍZKA Pavel NOVOTNÝ Jan NOVOTNÝ Karel TICOVÁ Barbora BRADÁČ Albert SEMELA Marek KAISER Jozef

Year of publication 2016
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Spectrochimica Acta B
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0584854716300040
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sab.2016.02.013
Field Analytic chemistry
Keywords Braking tracks; Forensic; LIBS; Tire treads; Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
Description Identification of the position, length and mainly beginning of a braking track has proven to be essential for determination of causes of a road traffic accident. With the introduction of modern safety braking systems and assistance systems such as the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) or Electronic Stability Control (ESC), the visual identification of braking tracks that has been used up until the present is proving to be rather complicated or even impossible. This paper focuses on identification of braking tracks using a spectrochemical analysis of the road surface. Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) was selected as a method suitable for fast in-situ element detection. In the course of detailed observations of braking tracks it was determined that they consist of small particles of tire treads that are caught in intrusions in the road surface. As regards detection of the “dust” resulting from wear and tear of tire treads in the environment, organic zinc was selected as the identification element in the past. The content of zinc in tire treads has been seen to differ with regard to various sources and tire types; however, the arithmetic mean and modus of these values are approximately 1% by weight. For in-situ measurements of actual braking tracks a mobile LIBS device equipped with a special module was used. Several measurements were performed for 3 different cars and tire types respectively which slowed down with full braking power. Moreover, the influence of different initial speed, vehicle mass and braking track length on detected signal is discussed here.
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