Establishment of the fact and features of a substance barrier made of multilayer and combined materials transferRED by a firearm

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Currently, issues of establishing the fact of a person wounded by a firearm through a specific type of obstacle or due to a ricochet, as well as the identification of the obstacle material, have not been practically studied. AIMS: To establish the fact and features of materials of multilayer and combined barriers (triplex, combined barrier made of keremogranite and foam concrete) transferred by a firearm when fired with 5.4539 cartridges from a special shortened Kalashnikov assault rifle MATERIAL AND METHODS: Shots were fired through various types of obstacles using a biological simulator of the human body from a 5-m distance. All experiments were recorded using high-speed video shooting with a Sony RX0 video camera having a frequency of 1000 frames/s. Bullets and their fragments that are extracted from the bullet trap or biological target tissues, after appropriate processing, were examined using a Leica M125 microscope, a Hitachi FlexSem 1000 II scanning electron microscope, and a Bruker Quantax 80 energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer. RESULTS: Light microscopy of the firearms that overcame the obstacle revealed the presence of a characteristic bullet deformation when it breaks through each type of the studied obstacle. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersion analysis (EDX) revealed the presence of overlays of barrier particles in each case on the entire surface of both deformed bullets and fragments of their shells and cores. CONCLUSION: The conducted experimental study revealed SEM/EDX as a reliable method to establish the fact of a gunshot wound of a person through a barrier of multilayer and combined materials.