Citation

Humphrey C, Henneberg M, Wachsberger C, Maiden N, Kumaratilake J. J. Forensic Sci. 2017; 62(6): 1466-1471.

Affiliation

Biological Anthropology and Comparative Anatomy Research Unit, Medical School North, University of Adelaide, Frome Road, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.13473

PMID

28230904

Abstract

Damage produced by high-speed projectiles on organic tissue will depend on the physical properties of the tissues. Conditioning organic tissue samples to human core body temperature (37°C) prior to conducting ballistic experiments enables their behavior to closely mimic that of living tissues. To minimize autolytic changes after death, the tissues are refrigerated soon after their removal from the body and re-heated to 37°C prior to testing. This research investigates whether heating 50-mm-cube samples of porcine liver, kidney, and heart to 37°C for varying durations (maximum 7 h) can affect the penetration response of a high-speed, steel sphere projectile. Longer conditioning times for heart and liver resulted in a slight loss of velocity/energy of the projectile, but the reverse effect occurred for the kidney. Possible reasons for these trends include autolytic changes causing softening (heart and liver) and dehydration causing an increase in density (kidney).

© 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en

Keywords

ballistics; biology; forensic science; porcine tissues; projectile-tissue interaction; temperature