Young's Modulus in the Identification of Human Scalp Hair

Abstract

Young's modulus of 12 samples of human scalp hair, representing both sexes, has been determined to find out whether this physical characteristic could be used in the determination of sex, age or identity of a person. Hair samples of an individual were tested before as well as after washing and drying by ‘Constant Rate of Loading’ (CRL) method. Results indicate that washing and drying have some influence on the Young's modulus of human head hair. On washing and drying, the values of this parameter for both male and female hair are found to increase, but statistically the difference is insignificant. The Young's modulus values appear to be of little value in determining the sex of an individual. For differentiating between individuals also, due to large variation in the random values of hair of the same scalp, this property appears to be useful only for purposes of elimination in certain circumstances, particularly if hair is found in some fair quantity, and not for positive identification.