LACCET’2005 – Security Track – Paper No. 99 1 Third LACCEI International Latin American and Caribbean Conference for Engineering and Technology (LACCET’2005) “Advances in Engineering and Technology: A Global Perspective”, 8-10 June 2005, Cartagena de Indias, COLOMBIA Spectroscopic Characterization of Thermal Inkjet Transfer of Deposits of Energetic Materials Oliva M. Primera-Pedrozo Chemical Imaging Center / Center for Sensors Development Department of Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, PO Box 9019, Mayagüez, PR 00681 Leonardo Pacheco-Londoño Chemical Imaging Center / Center for Sensors Development Department of Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, PO Box 9019, Mayagüez, PR 00681 Orlando Ruiz Hewlett Packard Puerto Rico, Aguadilla, PR 00605 Michael Ramirez Hewlett Packard Puerto Rico, Aguadilla, PR 00605 Samuel P. Hernández-Rivera ∗ Chemical Imaging Center / Center for Sensors Development Department of Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, PO Box 9019, Mayagüez, PR 00681 Julio Briano Chemical Imaging Center / Center for Sensors Development Chemical Engineering Department, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez Mayagüez, PR 00681 Abstract Fiber Optic Coupled/Grazing Angle Probe Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy has made possible to develop new methods for detection of traces of chemical compounds on surfaces. Thermal Inkjet Technology is able to deposit very small amounts of chemical compounds, including energetic materials, in a specific location on a surface. Aliquots of TNT and RDX solutions were deposited on stainless steel film. A thin coating of the explosives can be produced by controlling the concentration of TNT or RDX, the number of drops dispensed and the distribution of drops on the surface. A Vector 22, a Bruker Optics FTIR fiber coupled to a Remspec Corp. Grazing Angle Probe head was used for the experiments. The spectra were recorded at 4 cm -1 resolution and 50 scans. The results of the experiments gave intense absorption bands in the fingerprint region of the infrared spectra that were used for quantification. Chemometrics routines were applied in the enhancement of the quantitative analysis. Keywords: Thermal inkjet, TNT, RDX, FT-IR, grazing angle and Chemometrics ∗ Author for correspondence: shernandez@uprm.edu , sp_hernandez_uprm@yahoo.com