Automotive flock and its significance in forensic fibre examinations

Synthetic flock fibres: A population and target fibre study

“…Whilst the number of individual target fibres found was relatively low, the fact that they were found at all and the frequency in which they occurred shows how much more likely it is that these fibres would be found at random, particularly in contrast to dyed flock fibres. On that basis we would recommend that the same cautious approach be adopted in relation to carbon black pigmented flock fibres as was concluded in the previous study [7].…”

“…Although flock fibres may be considered to be particularly distinctive owing to their morphology, it is incorrect to assume that they are not a common fibre type merely by virtue of their unusual appearance. There is no reason why flock fibres should not be considered in the same way as any other synthetic fibre type, in such that dyed synthetic fibres are considered to be a good target fibre type [2,9] and that carbon black pigmented synthetic fibres are considered to be a poor target fibre type [7,8].…”

“…The target flock fibres were chosen from the samples of flock fibres taken from a range of vehicles in the previous study into automotive flock [7]. All of the vehicles were models registered in 2008.…”

“…In a previous study [7] the general location of flocked material in the interior of vehicles as well as the types of flock fibres used in the interior of vehicles was identified. The majority of flock fibres used in vehicles are polyester or nylon (6 and 6,6).…”

“…By comparing the flock fibres found on one hundred garments to a number of target flock fibres from the samples acquired in the initial study [7] we were able to assess the likelihood of finding flock fibres that are indistinguishable from those used in the interior of a specific vehicle on a garment at random.…”