Analysis of volatile components in inkjet printouts by GC–MS: A classification method

Considering the high use of inkjet printing in forgery cases, the classification of inkjet printing is particularly important in questioned document examination. In this work, a universal GC-MS method has been developed to analyze various ink components extracted from inkjet printouts. The results indicated that several components detected and identified across 195 inks could be used to distinguish printer manufacturers. A trend of decreasing solvent concentration over time was observed through the continuous monitoring of 7 samples. The results shown that this method is useful for forensic classification purposes, and can be useful regardless effects of storage environment, paper or printer. Furthermore, the application of this method in the analysis of counterfeit banknotes illustrated its feasibility and applicability.