In Situ Analysis of Ink Lines Made by Blue and Black Ballpoint Pens by Reflectance and Luminescence Spectroscopy Using the VSC6000HS

In situ discrimination of blue and black ballpoint pen ink lines on paper was performed using the visible- infrared reflectance and visible-infrared luminescence spectroscopy functions of the VSC6000HS. Ink lines from 30 blue and 30 black ballpoint pens were examined. It was found that about 92% and 94% of the ink lines of the blue and black ballpoint pens respectively could be distinguished using these methods.The outcomes of this project demonstrated that this methodology of differentiating ballpoint inks did not only provide reproducible results, but also offered a satisfactory, simple, rapid, non-destructive and objective way of differentiating ink entries of blue and black ballpoint pens. The results have also demonstrated that the paper color has an effect on reflectance and luminescence spectra obtained by VSC6000HS. As a result, comparing ink entries on different colored-paper substrates by these methodologies is not acceptable.