title: The application of silicon sol-gel technology to forensic blood substitute development: Mimicking aspects of whole human blood rheology.
abstract: Solution-gelation chemistry has promising applications in forensic synthetic blood substitute development. This research offers a silicon-based sol-gel approach to creating stable materials that share similar rheological properties to that of whole human blood samples. Room temperature, high water content, silicon sol-gels were created using the organosilane precursors 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane and tetraethylorthosilicate along with various concentrations of filler and pigment. Shear-thinning non-Newtonian properties were observed within most formulations of the presented materials. The effects of colloidal concentration, temperature, age and filler addition on the viscosity of the sol-gels were investigated. SEM-EDS analysis was used to identify the behavior of the fillers within the film and support their inclusion for basic bloodstain pattern simulation. A final proposed candidate sol-gel was assessed using a previously reported passive drip simulation test on a hard, dry surface and passed. This works represents encouraging development in providing safe material alternatives to using whole human blood for forensic training and research.
authors.affiliation: Materials Science Program, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario, K9J 7B8, Canada.
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stotesbury
authors.affiliation: Forensic Science Department, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario, K9J 7B8, Canada.
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Illes
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario, K9J 7B8, Canada.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Materials Science Program, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario, K9J 7B8, Canada; Chemistry Department, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario, K9J 7B8, Canada. Electronic address: avreugdenhil@trentu.ca.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Vreugdenhil
mesh_terms: D001802:Blood Substitutes / Q000737:chemistry*; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D005782:Gels; D006801:Humans; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D012212:Rheology; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D001802:Blood Substitutes; D005782:Gels; D012825:Silicon
keywords: Bloodstain pattern analysis; Colloidal suspensions; Forensic blood substitutes; Rheology; Sol–gel chemistry; Thin film materials