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Forensic Analysis Of C-4 And Commercial Blasting Agents For Possible Discrimination, Katie Steele

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The criminal use of explosives has increased in recent years. Political instability and the wide spread access to the internet, filled with "homemade recipes," are two conjectures for the increase. C-4 is a plastic bonded explosive (PBX) comprised of 91% of the high explosive RDX, 1.6% processing oils, 5.3% plasticizer, and 2.1% polyisobutylene (PIB). C-4 is most commonly used for military purposes, but also has found use in commercial industry as well. Current methods for the forensic analysis of C-4 are limited to identification of the explosive; however, recent publications have suggested the plausibility of discrimination between C-4 samples based …