THE SPECIFICS OF EXPERT EXAMINATION OF OBJECTS MANUFACTURED BY ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING METHODS

The emergence of new production methods and materials provides access to such technologies not only for those who use them for lawful purposes, but also for criminals. These technologies are various types of additive manufacturing that have been adapted to print crime guns, in particular firearms, cartridges and their parts. This raises the question of the forensic ability to examine these objects. At this stage, theoretical and methodological bases of expert examination of objects made by means of 3D-printing are still not fully elaborated. The forensic literature does not contain signs characteristic of one or another type of additive manufacturing, which will allow the expert to decide on the method of manufacturing the object and to develop a further plan of action in the process of expert examination. This article is devoted to theoretical and methodological aspects of examination of firearms and cartridges manufactured by 3D-printers. The author gives the scheme of expert solution of diagnostic tasks of forensic ballistic examination in the study of 3D-weapons; a microscopic study of signs of three-dimensional printing technologies displayed on the surface of the object was carried out. In the course of the conducted experimental studies a complex of features of technologies of layer-by-layer direction of thermoplastic (FDM) and stereolithography (SLA) were developed, which can be further used in the course of forensic ballistic examination of 3D-weapons, cartridges, their parts and components in order to establish the manufacturing method, as well as trace examination during the examination of other products manufactured by these methods.

3D-printer, 3D-weapons, additive technology, firearms, ammunition, 3D-printing, stereolithography, layer-by-layer plastic deposition, design features, energy performance, reliability

Polyakova A. V. The specifics of expert examination of objects manufactured by additive manufacturing methods. Business. Education. Law, 2023, no. 1, pp. 225—230. DOI: 10.25683/VOLBI.2023.62.565.