Practical 2

Aim- To collect and preserve charred documents

Requirements- Charred documents, Poly vinyl acetate, acetone, glass rod, Overhead projector
(OHP) Sheets etc.
Theory-
Definition-The document which has become black and fragile/brittle due to the action of heat is
called charred document.”
Charring is the process of incomplete combustion in a controlled supply of oxygen whereas;
Burning is complete combustion in uncontrolled supply or plenty of oxygen.
Charring and burning produces different effect on the documents.
Characteristics of Charred documents

 The document becomes black due to heat.

 Edges of a document become curly in nature.
 Documents are fragile.
 Due to its fragile nature, a charred document may be broken into pieces even with a small
amount of external pressure.

Steps to be followed in case of Charred documents

1. Handling
2. Stabilization
3. Separation
4. Collection & Preservation
5. Deciphering of charred documents

Collection of charred documents

 To handle single burnt document, flat bladed tweezers are useful for picking up the
fragments.
 Thin glass sheets- Keep pieces of brunt paper on it. Collect the scattered pieces of paper
by sliding the sheet below them to avoid destruction.
 Huge heap burnt- Check middle of heap for intact documents. Small heap can be
collected by sliding the cardboard sheet inside and put all in corrugated box
 Handling

 Switch off all fans and close the room to avoid any further burning of documents and
materials.
 Avoid disturbing the container in which the documents are burnt.
 Stabilize the charred documents by spraying the stabilizers because of their fragile nature.
 Lift the pages as they are present.
 Use a spatula to lift scattered pages and then transfer them on a thin glass sheet.
 Try to transfer the entire container on which the documents were burnt. If the transfer is
not possible, use another thing to carry the documents as their temporary accomodation.
 Charred documents should be handled with utmost care to avoid any breakage of papers.

 The documents are transported to the laboratory in the corrugated box.

 In this box, the charred document is kept in between padding of cotton and tissue paper to
give support and to prevent it from further damages.
 If required the document is sprayed with 3% polyvinyl acetate in acetone or methyl
metha acrylate, which provides strength to the document by forming a thin sticky layer
on document.
Stabilization of Charred documents

 Gum Acacia is a stabilizer that can be used for stabilizing fragile documents but due to its
property of sticking the paper to the glass, it is avoided mostly.
 Another way of stabilizing fragile documents is by placing them in a wet moisture
chamber for several hours and spraying plasticizers on them.
 Polyvinyl acetate is also one of the stabilizers used in the process. It is also the most
preferable one.

Procedure
Preparation of solution-
3 grams of polyvinyl acetate is added to 100 ml of acetone and heated it until it mixed.
Procedure
1. Photograph the document in the crime scene
2. The document is collected with the help of flat bladed tweezer
3. It is placed on the OHP Sheet
4. With the help of glass rod the polyvinyl acetate solution is added on the edges of the
document to preserve.
5. The document is covered with another OHP sheet
Observation- stick the sample
Result-The collection and preservation of charred document has been done