The use of melting point and refractive index determination to compare colourless polyester fibres

The incidence of polyesters encountered in forensic fibre examinations continues to increase. To meet different consumer needs such fibres can be subjected to many physical and chemical variations during production. Some of these variations are discussed. Accurate comparison of these fibres presents a particular problem to the forensic scientist. Melting point and refractive index determinations were made on various samples of colourless polyesters provided by different manufacturers to assess the comparative value of such information and to find out the possibility of relating it to modifications of the basic polymer. Melting points alone were found to be of little comparative value, but determination of both refractive indices n_∥ and n_⊥ does allow discrimination between samples. Consideration of both melting point and refractive index together may help to provide an insight into polymer variation, though this remains somewhat speculative.