The Use of 3d Printing in Humanitarian Forensics

Expert Profile

Matthew Vennemeyer is Forensic Expert Advisor at ICRC. Also, he is a forensic anthropologist and archeologist with experience primarily in human identification, missing persons, human rights, and humanitarian forensics. He had worked in the United States, Western Balkans, and Iraq for several governmental and non-governmental organizations for the search, recovery, and identification of human remains. For the last 7 years, he has been working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a Forensic Coordinator or Advisor in Western Balkans, South Caucasus, Central Asia, and North Africa. He is now based in ICRC Headquarters in Geneva.

Foreground

The session was started with a short and very impressive introduction about the speaker of the session. Then the session was handed over to him to share the imminence of his vast knowledge with the listeners. In this session, the speaker discussed the technological advancement in the field of forensic science and more specifically in humanitarian forensic. this session was roaming around the detailed discussion of the significance of 3d Printing in forensic investigation. so let me know what was the session all about.

3D Printing           

The additive manufacturing process of 3-dimensional objects from a digital file is 3D Printing. It often involves laying down material until the object is printed, each layer is a thinly sliced section. It is ‘additive’ in that it doesn’t require a block of material or a mold to manufacture physical objects, it simply stacks and fuses layers of material. It’s typically fast, with low fixed setup costs, and can create more complex geometries than traditional technologies. It is originally used extensively in material engineering and industrial prototyping geometries. 

Figure 1- 3D Printing

Fused Deposit Modeling (FDM) is 3D printing for plastic filaments which is at lower costs. It is safer, non-toxic and biodegradable. Hardware 3D printer is used for plastic filaments and is prepared through software. It does not require special ventilation commonly used in hospitals by dentists.

Humanitarian forensics is the application of knowledge and skills of forensic medicine and science to humanitarian actions, especially following armed conflicts or mass disasters that can be natural or man-made.

 3D printing for Humanitarian forensics is the scanning of body parts and creating them in 3 dimensional digitally. 3D printing scanning can be done through CT Scans, photogrammetry, and surface scanning through laser. Humanitarian forensics deals with the technical anatomy of the 3D models through software at lower costs. It helps in proper and dignified management of the dead remains during mass disasters which helps for the identification of dead remains and prevent and resolve missing ones, also provide answers to the affected families and loved ones. Management of human body parts includes a collection of Antemortem data (AMD) and for dead human remains is done Post mortem data (PMD) which helps in the study of bones, teeth, and other human skeletal remains.

Figure 2- 3D Model of Mandible 

Figure 3- 3D Model of Bone

3D printers are commonly available and are used in Hospitals, Museums, Dentists, universities, forensic labs etc. Models are scanned and used for facial reconstruction, analysis of fractured and fragmented human remains, pathology visualization, custom prosthetics, 3D printing replica of bullets in the mechanical engineering of guns and also used as physical evidence or courtroom replicas. Post mortem data of human dead remains is used for the study purpose or training scenarios and simulations in which body tags are used on the practice body for labeling and numbering, arrows are also used as the body tags of body parts. Osteomatric process using digital caliper for fragmented bones is the process of measurements of bones or fragmented parts of the body which is used for the study or training purpose. 

Humanitarian forensics is supported by forensic practitioners, authorities, and family which often include in the field of human genetics, Anthropology, Odontology, Archeology, and Pathology. The replicas of 3D printing models are presented in the court.

Challenges under humanitarian forensics are as follows:-

• Low budget, lack of resources, lack of equipment in the local academic or governmental institutions. 
• Legal restrictions for animal and human skeletal remains for professional and academics use as they are expensive and also it is difficult to ship the equipment items. 

Therefore the advanced technology of 3D printing of humanitarian forensics is helping under vast field analysis of anthropology, human genetics, and identification of fragmented human remains also helps to study under the advanced technology. 

Conclusion

3D printing in Humanitarian Forensics provides the understanding and ease of identification of dead fragmented human remains during mass disasters.  While this advanced field of technology helps us to study the anatomy of humanitarian forensics through 3d models which creates interest to study material.

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