NonDestructive Methods of Counterfeit Detection By Bijan Bayat

Non-Destructive Methods of Counterfeit Detection By: Bijan Bayat Mokhtari Prof. M. Nakamura Advanced Manufacturing Processes Fall 2013 Background: Findings: • Counterfeit products are an issue: They are illegal, cause damage, and harm. Cause billions of $ every year. • Detection of counterfeit raw material for pharmaceuticals are usually invasive methods used which lead to waste of time, loss of material, not all of the batch is tested, the tested material can get cross contaminated, and are costly. • Counterfeiters figure out new ways to copy products and get away with it. • The testing of SORS has shown that it is capable of detecting packaging contents through transparent, opaque, stained glass, and paper containers. Although the technology has not been implemented yet it is shown to be promising. Conclusion: • Counterfeiting is widespread and harmful. • Different methods of inspection are developed everyday • SORS can detect a containers contents without invasive testing • Manufacturers have to keep up with the counterfeit market to come up with ideas to make counterfeiting impossible or non-profitable • Anti-counterfeit products have to be cheap to implement and easy to use Discussion and Solutions: Overview: • A new method called Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS) enables the non invasive testing of pharmaceutical raw material. • Similar methods can be developed to detect counterfeit products elsewhere such as a method to measure the carbon content of the steel used to make a tool or to detect special chemical that manufacturers can implant in their products that shows the legitimacy of the product. • As counterfeit products get harder to detect newer methods of detection have to be developed. • Methods can be: Invasive & non-invasive • Manufacturers should include methods of production that renders the counterfeiting process non-economical or methods that can’t be replicated by reverse engineering their products. • Easier methods of detection should be implemented so that users can easily detect a legit product from a counterfeit such as holographic stickers or product keys. • Non-destructive methods can be developed to detect counterfeit products by analyzing their material contents such as the type of steel or polymer used to make such product. Often counterfeit products use different material as the original to reduce costs hence sacrificing quality. • Manufacturer of goods can implement special chemicals in their products that behave in a special manner under certain circumstances such as fluorescent chemicals under UV light. e. g. glowing filaments in $100 bills. • Unique QR code generated by the manufacturer and printed on every individual product that can be scanned easily with a smart phone. References: • Mathew Bloomfield, Darren Andrews, Paul Loeffen, Craig Tombling, Tim York, Pavel Matousek, “Non-invasive identification of incoming raw pharmaceutical materials using Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy”, 2012 • http: //2. bp. blogspot. com/o 7 vpm 4 o 9 fjk/t 1 um 3 puetni/aaaaagc/bghmxzhhrku/s 1600/ prestige+wear+hologram+sticker+2. jpg • http: //userpages. umbc. edu/~chang 2/counterfeit/canon 2. jpg • http: //www. which. co. uk/news/2013/12/watch-out-forcounterfeit-goods-this-christmas-344157/ • http: //jmainewoods. blogspot. com/2010_04_01_archive. html