Research that helps detectives find fingerprints even after they have been wiped clean is being used in industry, a university announced yesterday.

John Bond’s method of “fingerprint visualisation” has been used by police across the world to find prints on bullet-casings by using the tiny amounts of corrosion caused by sweat.

And today he said his technique, first announced in 2008, could also be used in industry to measure corrosion on machine parts.

Dr Bond is scientific support manager at Northamptonshire Police and honorary research fellow at the University of Leicester’s Forensic Research Centre.

Working with scientists at the university’s Department of Chemistry, they have developed a simple, handheld device which can measure corrosion on machine parts.

It is hoped the invention will help the manufacturing sector as corrosion leads to wear and tear and needs to be monitored so worn parts are replaced at the right time.

“This is a new, quick, cheap and easy way of measuring the extent of corrosion on copper and copper-based alloys, such as brass,” Dr Bond said.

“It works by exploiting the discovery we made during the fingerprint research – that the corrosion on brass forms something called a Schottky barrier – and we use this to see how much the metal has corroded.

“Such measurements can already be made but this is quick, cheap and easy and can be performed in the field as it works off a nine-volt battery.”