Morphological examination of perforation marks on butane gas canisters using an integrated 3D digital workflow: A...

This case report describes the application of an integrated three-dimensional (3D) digital workflow to the morphological examination of perforation marks on butane gas canisters recovered from a single criminal case, with a focus on non-destructive visualization and documentation of the submitted evidence. Three butane gas canisters and a pair of scissors were digitized using micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) at a 28 μm voxel size. Three-dimensional models were generated and 3D-printed at 10 × magnification to assist physical observation of the geometric relationship between the submitted items. The physically aligned replicas were re-scanned and used as reference data for virtual alignment and gap visualization. Morphological examination and descriptive gap measurement were performed using specialized software. In this case, detailed non-destructive visualization of internal and external deformation features was achieved. Case-specific morphological compatibility was observed between one scissor blade and the examined perforation marks, based on the blade-tip contour, perforation margins, and localized deformation features. Descriptive gap measurements produced mean interfacial gap values ranging from -0.013 to + 0.136 mm across the three perforation sites; these values were not used as forensic decision thresholds. The observations are case-specific and should not be interpreted as supporting source attribution, individualization, or any generalized forensic conclusion. Further studies using replicated samples, non-matching tool comparisons, repeated alignment trials, and quantified workflow uncertainty are required before broader forensic conclusions can be drawn.