Crystal Pattern Matching Recovers Serial Numbers Obliterated from Metals

http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/tech-beat/tb20150218.cfm#ebsd

by ledgeditor • 11 years ago

42 22 11 years ago

mschuster914• 11 years ago

Sounds certainly impressive, but can't this analysis be stopped/manipulated by simply stamping another serial number or a dot-matrix pattern over the original serial?

And what happens when the area is heated, e.g. with acetylene, short before melting point?

pavel_lishin2• 11 years ago

It might not help going forward, but I'd wager it'll help close a few cases in the meanwhile.

mschuster914• 11 years ago

Honestly I don't understand how utterly stupid criminals can be. Especially guys who planned the crime.

I'd say that being the son of a cop has its advantages in life ;)

kleer001• 11 years ago

Absolutely some people will adapt with this new knowledge. But I bet that many won't, as they'll have no idea. Not security through obfuscation, but security through people who're trying to cheat being ignorant of the hoops they have to jump through.

NoMoreNicksLeft2• 11 years ago

I don't think heat treatment works... tends to change the hardness of iron-based alloys too much, often a big deal for a firearm (less clear though, whether it's relevant to VINs).

PhasmaFelis• 11 years ago

A lot more criminals have access to a $2 file than can get their hands on a stamping machine, or even an acetylene torch. Anything that raises the bar is a net positive.

wycx• 11 years ago

Perhaps as many criminal have access to a punch or a chisel plus a hammer as have access to a $2 file.

sfeng• 11 years ago

Acids and etching solutions have been used to do this for many years. It takes longer, hence the relevance of this discovery, but it does often work long after the numbers are obliterated visually. My understanding is, similar to this method, it relies on the structural changes made in the underlying metal when the upper layers are stamped. It goes to show you just how tricky materials engineering must be, seeing how the structure of a material can be so easily changed in an invisible way.

NoMoreNicksLeft2• 11 years ago

So keep grinding even after the serial's no longer visible?

iwwr• 11 years ago

Or re-anneal the materials in an oven?

MichaelGG• 11 years ago

I'd imagine it might be more important to apply the same type of pressure as the stamping process. Assuming there's some maximum compression or structural change that can happen?

themoogle• 11 years ago

why not change the metal with say a quick spot weld or smack it with a nail and hammer randomly or small chisel? I wonder if a simple brazing rod would screw this recovery technique

sandworm• 11 years ago

Are all serial numbers stamped?

I would imagine that some might be cut in. Laser? I presume that such numbers wouldn't create the changes needed for this technique.

Crystal Pattern Matching Recovers Serial Numbers Obliterated from Metals

Related Stories