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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Detecting explosive substances by the IR spectrography

subject

description

Fast and safe detection methods of explosive substances are needed both before and after actualized explosions. This article presents an experiment of the detection of three selected explosives by the ATR FTIR spectrometer and by three different IR hyperspectral imaging devices. The IR spectrometers give accurate analyzing results, whereas hyperspectral imagers can detect and analyze desired samples without touching the unidentified target at all. In the controlled explosion experiment TNT, dynamite and PENO were at first analyzed as pure substances with the ATR FTIR spectrometer and with VNIR, SWIR and MWIR cameras. After three controlled explosions also the residues of TNT, dynamite and PENO were analyzed with the same IR devices. The experiments were performed in arctic outdoor conditions and the residues were collected on ten different surfaces. In the measurements the spectra of all three explosives were received as pure substances with all four IR devices. Also the explosion residues of TNT were found on cotton with the IR spectrometer and with VNIR, SWIR and MWIR hyperspectral imagers. All measurements were made directly on the test materials which had been placed on the explosion site and were collected for the analysis after each blast. Measurements were made with the IR spectrometer also on diluted sample. Although further tests are suggested, the results indicate that the IR spectrography is a potential detection method for explosive subjects, both as pure substances and as post-blast residues.